Running Away
by Introvertedly-BrownEyed-Writer
Summary: My very first fanfic EVER so please be nice! What if Jacob had a best friend before Bella? What if in Eclipse SHE ran away from Jacob's rejection to imprinting on her?she doen't know at first What if she'd been in love with him before that? Jacob/OC R&R!
1. Chapter 1

Have you ever felt like the most important thing to you in the whole world was being stolen away from you in front of your very eyes and there was absolutely _nothing_ you could do about it? Like they were doing it on purpose daring you—no, _taunting _you—to do something? Well if you have, join the club; we've got a loooong list going on here. Jacob was being stolen from me and there was nothing I could do! But what makes it worse is the fact that—a fact that I forgot to mention— I am an easily four hundred pound werewolf, the size of a horse and completely unable to do anything, for fear of exposing my secret and hurting Sam Uley and his gang. _Yes_, La Push has a gang.

Even though I would do anything to make Jacob happy, my voice of reason would always tell me that killing his friends really wouldn't make him happy. Not. At. All. So I keep my distance and leave whenever they come near and the very rare times that I get to hang out with Jacob I cancel because he always brings them along. I have to use my extensive knowledge to make an induced sickness, like throwing up, or making a dangerously high fever. Don't ask me how I can do it, I just can. At least, when I concentrate hard enough.

I'm probably boring you right now, telling you all of this, but I will tell you right now that it never used to be this way. In fact, if we hadn't known each other since we were in diapers, I'm pretty sure I would've fought then walked away. But I we _did _know each other since then, but he was _really_ getting on my last nerves.

*sigh* I really just haven't been myself since I ran away. I left myself behind with Jacob and ever since then, I haven't let go of my animal side. I gave in and left Serenity Diane White behind. White, yeah, I know the irony of our names. But I can't help that; I'm proud of my name, 'cause it's unique. I kept running, leaving myself, my hurt, problems, and everything else for everyone else to deal with. And I hated myself for it, because it was so unlike me and completely selfish. Jacob and Billy and Quil and Embry all claimed that I was the most selfless person in the world that they ever met. I never really believed them.

I know what you're probably thinking: 'Why is she thinking all of this? How did it all start? When will she tell her story?" Well, if you want to know, then I'll tell you. I've got nothing else to lose…


	2. Chapter 2

The Beginning

_Previously: I know what you're probably thinking: 'Why is she thinking all of this? How did it all start? When will she tell her story?" Well, if you want to know, then I'll tell you. I've got nothing else to lose…_

Well, I'm not exactly sure where to start, to be honest with you. So I guess I'll just start at the beginning of the problem: Bella Swan. It is ALL her fault. I never liked her from the start, when she and her friends came over to La Push and met us all. She hadn't even looked my way. And Sam certainly didn't think it was polite to introduce me. No, I was too awesome for them to handle. …At least, that's what I was trying to convince myself of. I don't even know what Sam was doing there with us! He and his steroid-pumped gang just decided to come along with us when we crossed paths with them on the way over to the beach. Okay, enough ranting, I'll just get on with the tale. Ha, tale… sorry.

_March 16__th__, 2011 (about a year after meeting Bella) _

"Hello beautiful people! What a_ lovely_ day it is, don't you agree?" My brother and father both looked up at me like I was speaking French, which I actually could do, but they didn't understand. They simultaneously looked out the window and judging by the cloudy and gray looking sky, they obviously didn't know what I was so happy about.

"Why are you so chipper? On _a Monday morning_?" my brother Austin said, bewildered that I was happy so early in the morning. I was NOT a morning person and they'd felt the wrath of my feelings toward waking up so early in the morning for school and Mondays, which it in fact was today.

My face fell. They forgot. They completely FORGOT that today was my 17th_ birthday! _I wiped my face completely of any emotion whatsoever. "You're acting like a 5 year old on her 6th birthday." _Close… _I thought to myself. Austin froze in the act of scooping Cheerios in his mouth. "Oh my gosh! I completely forgot today was your birthday! I'm _so_ sorry, Renity! I promise I'll make it up to you after school today, okay? I'm so sorry!"

This was what I loved about my brother; he always had a way to make things better. Ever since our mother died a few years ago, we got along better than ever. I guess it was because we were afraid to lose each other, so we came up with a little ritual: we all hugged each other before we left for school, or in dad and Austin's cases, work. I was very forceful when it came to that ritual, because I, for some reason beyond any of us, could not make it through the days without dad's kiss on my forehead or the slight ache in my arms from one of Austin's breath-squeezing hugs.

"My baby girl is 17 now! You're getting old, now. Congratulations!" my father exclaimed.

I blushed. "Daddy! I'm not old yet! I still got a few more good years in store for me!"

I glanced at the clock on the wall. 6:28. "I ought to get going if I want to make it to Jake's on time. And pick up Quil and Embry! Thanks you guys, for… you know, taking care of me and stuff." My voice became quiet at the end of my sentence.

"But you haven't eaten anything, yet," Austin protested.

"Don't worry; I'll eat something at Jake's. I'm sure _he_ didn't forget my birthday!" I mockingly scowled at the two of them as they looked down at their breakfasts.

"Fine, but have a great day at school today, okay?" Dad said, coming to give me my forehead kiss.

"No problem, Dad. I'll be fine. Have a good day at work!" I chirped as I hugged him back. "You too, Austin!" I grinned at him and held my arms out for a hug.

He charged at me and crushed me to him in one of the bone-crushing hugs that I'd come to love. "Happy birthday, kiddo," he whispered into my ear before letting me go.

I grinned up at him and saluted him lazily. "Sir, yes sir!"

He rolled his eyes and got back to his Cheerios.

I grabbed my keys and backpack of the kitchen counter and walked out the front door to my little red Ford truck.

Driving down the roads of La Push, with the windows down and wind flapping my hair around, I turned on the radio and hit the scan button. A song soon caught my ear and I hit the stop button and listened to the soft voice of Taylor Swift sing.

"_So I'll watch your life in pictures_

_Like I used to watch you sleep_

_And I feel you forget me like_

_I used to feel you breathe._

_And I'll keep up _

_With our old friends _

_Just to ask them _

_How you are…_

_Hope it's nice… _

_Where you are_

_And I hope the sun shines,_

_And it's a beautiful day._

_And something reminds you, _

_You wish you had stayed_

_You can plan for a change in _

_The weather and time_

_But I never planned on_

_You changing your mind…_

A flash of red in my peripheral vision caught my eye and made me slam my brakes, skidding to a stop. I breathed a sigh of relief when I didn't hit anything and I got out of the car.

I skipped up the ramp on the porch for Jacob's dad, who was in a wheelchair, and walked right in the door.

"Yo! C'mon Jake! We gotta go pick up the boys still, and unless you don't wanna get there on time, I suggest you get your lazy arse over here and get in the car, before I drag you out myself!"

Jacob's head appeared around the wall of the kitchen. "You wouldn't." He glared at me.

"You know I would and can, Jacob Black. Don't underestimate me." I glared back at him with ten times the intensity.

His face faltered at my comeback and I smirked, knowing I won this round.

"So Jacob, have anything to say to me? Anything at all?" I said to him, fluttering my eyelashes at him.

He gave me a confused look. "Ummm, no I don't think so."

My smile faltered for a fraction of a second, but I kept my smile in place.

"Oh, wait! I do have something to tell you! Have you seen my dad? I woke up this morning and he was gone. There was no note or anything."

My face lit up until he asked that question. "Nope, I haven't seen him, maybe he went to wake up the boys, or to Sue Clearwater's place," I mumbled, still keeping my smile up but with a little more effort.

Oblivious to my strain, Jacob nodded to himself. "Well, let's go and get Quil and Embry before they start calling us."

"Okay." I let out a huge sigh before I could stop myself and Jacob glanced up at me in slight concern.

"Are you okay? I can drive if you're not feeling okay?" he said uncertainly.

I never ever got sick or winded, not even when our coach made us run a whole mile in the cold rain. He didn't know what to do in situations like this, because they never happened. Except of course, when I use my 'talents'.

"No, no, I'm alright just a little tired, I guess." The lie fell flat on my lips, when I didn't bother hiding it.

Jacob stared at me, calculating my expression, my flat voice, and my appearance, before nodding slowly and walking towards the door. I went out after him, thinking to myself.

_I can't believe he forgot! The one person I count on the most to remember ends up forgetting! This is starting out to be a less pleasant birthday than I thought… _

I hopped into the driver side and started the car, raising the volume on the radio, not really listening to the music.

10 minutes later, we pull up to Quil's house, where Embry said they'd be. I shut off the engine and climbed out with Jacob. We walked through the door and after shouting for them to come out without an answer, walked into the living room.

"_**SURPRISE!**_" I grin at the sight of Embry, Quil, Sue Clearwater and her son and daughter, Billy Black, and even Old Quil in the living room holding out little confetti poppers and popping them in my face—well, Embry and Quil that is. "_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SERENITY!**_"

I laugh, delighted that they remembered. "Aw, you guys remembered! Thank you all so much!" "…Birthday?" I turned to Jacob and nodded. "Dude, don't tell me you forgot," Quil said.

"Uhhhh…"

**A/N: Ohhhh, what's gonna happen next? I'm soooo sorry I didn't update sooner, it's just that I just started the 7****th**** grade, and we lost our science teacher, so we're changing schedules…AGAIN! But I know you don't want to hear my pathetic excuses, so if I get at least 2 more reviews, I'll update again So, until next time! Bye-bye, chow, and all that other junk! Peace out! **

**P.s. The Taylor Swift song is called Last Kiss, but I didn't write the beginning of the song, just the near end. Now, I'm outie!**


	3. Chapter 3

Other Plans

_Previously: "…Birthday?" I turned to Jacob and nodded. "Dude, don't tell me you forgot," Quil said. "Uhhh…"_

"Aw, man you screwed up!" Embry came around to knock Jacob upside the head.

"I am so sorry, Renity. I don't know how I could've forgotten," Jacob apologized.

I shrugged, trying to look indifferent. "You're not the only one that forgot; dad and Austin forgot, too."

"What? I can't believe those two! I'm going to let them have a piece of my mind when I get my hands on them!" Sue said, gripping the air with her hands and squeezing as if wringing someone's neck.

"It's okay though, because they said they were gonna make it up to me after school, so I'm looking forward to what they're going to do," I reassured her.

Sue shrugged, though she looked at least a little calmer. I smiled, loving the effect I have on people.

"I'll make it up to you, too! Meet me at the bench close to the woods near the beach around six, okay?" Jacob said.

I nodded eagerly. "Sure! What are you going to do?" I asked. He of all people should know that I don't like surprises. Not since… _No._ I was not going to think about it. Not now.

"We'll go into the woods for a walk, or maybe to the beach for a while. Whatever you want to do." His smile was so sincere, I would've said yes to whatever he asked me to.

"Well, we should invite your brother and father over with us if they're going to make it up to you. We have decided we're gonna all give you your gifts at the same time, so there's no confusion," Billy said.

I nodded. "You guys didn't need to get me gifts! I strictly remember telling you last year, after you gave me those wonderful, yet unnecessary gifts, that I didn't want any gifts this year."

"Well, what did we do last year when you told us that? Or the year before that? Or the year before _that?_"

"Completely ignore my wishes and protests," I answered to Embry's conversational tone.

"Exactly. It's practically a tradition! Why should we stop now? Besides, your protests never get old."

"Which reminds me of another birthday tradition! You're turning 17 and it's time for your _birthday spankings, _my dear. Jacob, would you like to have the honors?" Quil said in a tone that suggested he could've been saying that my tank top was blue.

"No…" I whispered as they descended on me. "No!" I ran away from them up the stairs to Quil's room.

In a brief moment of clarity, I suddenly had a burst of inspiration. I skidded to stop in front of the bed and spun around to face them. They all halted; confused that I'd stopped running and knowing that it couldn't be for anything good.

"We have school today," I said slowly and sweetly as if I were talking to little children, "right?"

They all nodded uncertainly. "Yes…"

"And _I'm _the one that drives you to school in_ my truck…_ right?"

Again, they all nodded. I smiled slowly and they all looked as if they were in a trance at the sight. I waved a hand in front of their faces and said, "Hello? Anybody in there? Huh, I guess this is something new…"

There were many 'talents' that I had acquired over the years, or that I have been acquiring over the years. Too many to put in a paragraph, so I'll list them:

I am a Nocturnal.

I am also a witch.

I am also a wizard.

I am also a werewolf!

I am a Deceiver.

I'm a mermaid.

Well, you're all probably thinking, 'What the hell? What is all that?' Let me explain. A Nocturnal is a person who can turn into any nocturnal animal in existence. As far as I know, I am the only Nocturnal in the world, but you never know. I'm sure you all get the concept of a witch. Powers. Broomstick. Warts and ugly faces. However, that is not the case for me! I don't have a hooked, wart-covered nose, and I don't fly on a broomstick!

I admit, I do make potions, but not in a giant black pot. I keep them in vials and always have them in handy for when an unsuspected warlock tries to kill me or any other innocent human.

Now, again, you all should be up-to-date on wizards, so you better not be stereotyping me as some old guy with a white beard and sill long robe! Or as one of those lame wizards on that TV show, which are totally _fake! _I don't wear long robes, I don't have any unnaturally long facial hair, and I certainly do not wave around some hazardous magic wand! I use natural utensils, like tree branches; with the tree's permission, of course. Yes, I talk to trees. The way they speak, just translates to English in my brain. There's no other way to describe it.

I am a werewolf (A/N: **But not exactly like the Quileute's.)**, but I don't change in the full moon all the time. Only when I get mad, or when I'm emotionally overwhelmed. I can do it willingly though, and I can keep myself from Shifting if I concentrate hard enough. High temperature comes with the territory, unfortunately. In my wolf form, I'm full white, with my same dark brown eyes and I'm the size of an almost full grown horse. I don't feel cold much anymore, but I do feel cool at times, when I'm in below -11 degrees. I know because I tested in the winter last year when I went for a run into Canada.

Being a Deceiver means that I can morph—for lack of a better term—into other people or things, and I can also make sounds that sound like the person or think that I am, but I don't have to morph to sound like something I'm not.

And, lastly (though probably not the last thing I'll become) I'm a mermaid. One drop of water and I instantly pop a tail. But I can control whether I change or stay human when I am completely in control and focus. I have been trying to get better at it but I can't seem to get the hang of it just yet. My tail is kind of silvery-see-through and feels kind of slimy, but I have no slime. I also have a siren singing voice that attracts males to me and is very deadly during the full moon, which can make me a very dangerous fish. I have heat, ice, and water powers, which upgrade at weird times, so it makes me unpredictable. It's not my favorite power, I can tell you that.

Now, back to the story… at the mention of something new, they all jerked to life and pounced on me. The next 10 minutes shall be censored because of vehement swearing.

We drove up to the parking lot of our school and went to our homeroom classes, avoiding each other, mostly because of all the swear-filled death threats I promised them after my 17 spankings. But by the end of the day, I forgave them. After all, it is tradition, right?

"So you forgive us?" Embry asked me on the drive home.

"Yep," I answered, grinning at them.

Jacob wasn't in the car with us, saying that he had some business to take care of on his own. I hadn't pressed the issue, because I was more focused on the fact that I had to attend a party that was being thrown at my house for me with everyone there, except Jake, but he was going to make that up to me later.

The party lasted about three hours and we mostly just ate, laughed, talked and had fun. The most fun I'd had since… No! I was not going to think about it! But anyway, my favorite part of the party was when they all gave me their presents. I got a new CD from my favorite band, Three Days Grace, (A/N:** I absolutely LOVE this band to death : D)** a new book from a series that I hadn't gotten around to buying lately, a few items of clothing and jewelry and last but not least, my favorite present of all, which was from Quil: a brand new custom made dagger.

You see, I'm not the most normal girl in the neighborhood, and apparently, neither were my mother or grandfather. We all had one thing in common: a fetish for knives. My grandfather (on my mother's side) had a fetish for knives and he passed it down to my mom and she passed it down to me. Another thing we had in common: we're all second borns. I am my mother's second child; and she was my grandfather's second child.

At the age of 8, my mother thought I was responsible enough not to kill myself with a knife, so she started me on my collection. I have more than 150 knives, in all shapes and sizes and the only one who knew it was Quil. When my mother died, she passed on all of her beloved knives down to me to use and keep and protect. Of the one's she gave me, my favorite one was jewel incrusted and had a blue handle that felt right when I held it.

The one that Quil gave me was so utterly _me_, that it brought tears to my eyes. On the blade was a fain but noticeable tattoo of a white wolf's head, and the moon behind it in the distance. The handle was silver and had my name engraved into it:_ Serenity Diane White._

I was too stunned to speak, so instead I just tackled him into a hug.

"Thank you, Quil. This is absolutely perfect! I love it." I whispered.

"No problem, I just wanted to get you the perfect present this year, and it looks like I've achieved my goal," he laughed.

After thanking him and the others over and over again, I went upstairs to put away my stuff.

I have a full wall of knives in my room. Literally, I'm not lying to you. I have enough knives to cover a wall, and then some. I put the knife Quil got me on the very top shelf of the new wall I was starting on, and went into my closet to look for something to wear for when I went out with Jacob.

I finally settled for a knee-length, white strapless dress with sandals and got dressed into them.

"I'll be back later!" I hollered to my brother, who was watching a football game on the TV.

"Okay, be back soon and be careful," he said back.

After a 20 minute walk to the bench, I plopped down on it and sat patiently to wait for Jacob.

6 o'clock soon became 6:30 and I started getting a little worried that he forgot he was supposed to meet me here.

I immediately dismissed the idea. No way would he forget that I was here. He was the one who'd invited me, after all. So I waited and waited and waited until it started to rain.

By then, it was already 8:23 pm and I was shivering from the cold of hard rain and relentless wind.

I hadn't even noticed when Embry came up to the bench until he put his hand on my bare shoulder.

"Renity?" he said softly.

"He stood me up." I didn't deny that he had, but I just wish my voice didn't sound so weak and frail. I sounded pathetic.

"C'mon. Let's get you out of this rain before you get sick. C'mon, Renity." He eased me up into his arms and I cried into his shoulder.

Hard sobs ripped through my chest and I didn't know why. I wasn't really even that surprised that he stood me up, because I sorta expected it; just heartbroken that he actually did it.

Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so right.

**A/N: okay so here it is! The next chapter! The beginning of this chapter wasn't exactly my best work, so sorry! oh, and just a heads up: I will be putting songs into the story, like having her sing them and stuff, so yea, and also I'll be putting up a few more chapters that lead up to her leaving, like three more. And I realize that I haven't been putting up the disclaimer so use this one for the entire story:** I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT, STEPHENIE MEYER DOES! ** Also, Bella will be very OOC in this story, so yea. And put a heart at the end of your reviews if you love Three Days Grace! 3 3 3 I love them! XD REVIEW!**


	4. Calling Urges and Giant Wolves

**Hey, all! I'm back! Sorry I took so long to update! I was just suffering from momentary writers-block. But I got past it and am ready to write! So, read on! **

**Disclaimer: Drat! You caught me! I'm secretly Stephenie Meyer in disguise! (Note the sarcasm) **

_Previously: I wasn't really even that surprised that he stood me up, because I sort of expected it; just heartbroken that he actually did it. Sometimes, I wish I wasn't so right._

The second Embry burst through my front door—after a ten minute dash through the rain with me slowing him down in his arms—my father and Austin were both up from the couch in a flash throwing questions at me so fast, I got dizzy.

Austin took me out of Embry's warm arms and into his own, even though I was still soaking wet from waiting in the pouring rain for nearly two and a half _hours_. My father was still talking a mile a minute, though.

"What happened?" "Are you alright?" and the one that stung the most, "Weren't you supposed to be with Jacob?"

"He stood me up, dad. He never came. I sat there in the cold, harsh rain for _two hours, _waiting for him to show up, and he never did," I croaked. My voice sounded even worse than it had when Embry had talked to me, not even 20 minutes ago. It sounded weak and frail; everything I refused to be. Everything I wasn't anymore.

By then, we'd migrated to the living room where Austin still held my soaking wet person on his lap on the couch.

"I'll kill him."

I think we all looked surprised when Embry's usually soft, caring voice whipped out, low and harsh, coated with a promise of violence and anger. I think I might've imagined the hint of lethality in there, too. I sure hope so.

I shook my head and held my hand out to him, and he took it. His hand was seriously warm, as if he had a fever. Well, he was always the odd ball in our little group (Quil, Jacob, me, him). I guess I shouldn't be worried.

"Revenge might work better than death, honey," I said softly, trying to clear my throat, which was still croaking.

My touch calmed him down a considerable measure, for which I was glad. We all sat there, pondering revenge on Jacob in my little living room; a soaking-wet teenage girl, a muscular teenage boy, who seemed to be dry now, a 24 year old man holding said teenage girl, and a dry not-as-muscular-as-said teenage-boy-father. We are surely one messed up handful of people.

In the silence, I sniffled and started coughing—violently.

I ignored the questions all three guys were throwing at me and made them stay, while I went into the kitchen and stood in front of the sink. I felt a thick liquid crawling up my throat, and spit it out in the sink.

I stared in horror at what I had spit in the sink.

Blood. I had coughed up _blood._

I was about to call Austin and my dad to come, but just as I turned away from the sink, I felt a strong wave of nausea hit me like a wall of bricks.

I immediately turned back to the sink and violently heaved up all that I'd eaten that evening: food from the party, lunch, candy, and – the worst of all—my chocolate birthday cake.

I didn't even need to call anybody, because all three men had already come the moment I'd started vomiting. Apparently I wasn't going to get a break, because after all the contents of my stomach had been emptied, I started dry heaving.

"What happened, sweetie?" my father asked me once I'd stopped.

"I don't know," I choked out. I moved away from the vomit-filled sink and literally _collapsed_ on the floor. I groaned in pain and discomfort as my head spun and the room tilted and teetered back and forth. I curled into a tight ball right there on the kitchen floor, still groaning.

"Embry, carry her to her room, please. Austin and I will try to see what we can find to help her…" Dad's voice faded into the pain I felt as Embry lifted me into his arms, bringing me out of my protective ball.

I whimpered as I felt a sharp sting of pain in the pit of my stomach.

"Sorry," Embry mumbled.

He tried not to shake me as he climbed the stairs, but my heightened senses wouldn't give me a break. I was moaning and groaning in pain the whole way up. I felt him lay me down on my bed and I re-curled into my ball under the thin covers he draped on me.

"… Renity, I know this probably isn't the right moment to say this, but I think we've found our way to revenge," Embry said, "You know, we tell him you're on your death bed and that it's his fault, 'cause it technically _is_ his fault."

I saw him shrug out the slits of my eyes.

"Mhmm." I couldn't speak, for fear of staring to scream as the pain escalated.

It actually wasn't a bad idea, and we could even get Quil to go along with it, too. I heard him leave a few seconds later. Sometime after dad and Austin gave me some medicine, the pain subsided enough for me to fall asleep. I knew the pain wasn't gone for good, but at that point I was so exhausted I didn't care.

~000000000~

I woke up to my name being called.

_What?_ I thought, sitting up straight. I didn't feel as sick as I had earlier, but my stomach felt swirly, as if it were a reminder.

_Serenity…_. There it was again. I saw a sliver of silver light shining through a gap in my window curtains and walked over to it, revealing the source.

_The full moon. _Not. Good.

_Serenity…. _It was calling me. I had to get outside. Now.

Using my flawless stealth—yes, stealth can be flawless—I crept down the stairs, not making a single sound. I slid the glass backyard door open and stepped out onto the cold back porch.

I leaped off the porch and sighed contentedly when my bare feet hit the cool, dew-covered grass, where I landed in a crouch. I stiffened slightly, waiting for my tail to appear and grinned widely when it didn't. I took off running at full inhuman speed into the woods, laughing softly, loving the rush of adrenaline I was getting from both running and the moon.

You see, when I get caught in moonlight, I get small, microscopic waves of tingly warmness, but when I get caught in the _full_ moonlight, it's like getting high on drugs, only with 10 times the force because of what I am.

I slowed down to a human jog, still sighing and giggling like a sugar-high little kid; except that I'm a moon-high teenager. Oh, the irony!

Suddenly, I was tackled to the ground by an enormous pitch-black bear-like thing with fur. It wasn't really touching me, but it was right above me with an air of hostility that said, _try to move and you'll die._

I could've fought it off easily, but my gut told me not to. Instead, I looked straight at it, keeping completely still, hands at my sides, feet together.

When it had knocked me down, all I did was gasp when it knocked me down, because I'd been caught by surprise. I was so caught up in the moon high, that I hadn't even noticed it following me.

Now, I wasn't afraid of it; I could take care of myself, thank you very much. But it was blocking my moonlight with its hulking figure. I felt empty without it, and I cried out, one arm instinctively reaching out to the moonlight that was only a few feet out of my reach.

I looked at the giant wolf, I decided it was, and flipped on to my knees as a familiar feeling had me retching again. Huh, it seemed as if the moonlight was keeping it at bay.

At first, the wolf was about to attack, but when he saw the vomit I was throwing up, he just watched me silently. He moved off of me when I was finished and lay down beside me where I'd curled into a ball again, like last time.

The moonlight washed over me again, and all the pain subsided, though my stomach still felt swirly. I reached out and pet his muzzle saying, "Good boy." He huffed out an indignant puff of air.

I chuckled. "I've gotta go, the moonlight's dwindling." I was already feeling the moonhigh coming down.

I stared coughing and stood up quickly, swaying a little, before starting to jog at a normal human pace, so as not to upset my stomach, in the direction of my house.

The wolf followed me for about half a mile, until he came and stopped in front of me, making me stop, too.

"W-wha-t?" I coughed. The coughing was getting worse, burning my throat.

The wolf huffed out a breath and all of a sudden, three other wolves, all the same size as the black one, stepped out of the brush of the woods.

I tensed, still coughing, anticipating a fight if it came to that. The other wolves were softly growling, a noise I would've missed if I were more human. They all formed a circle around me and that's when my coughing decided to kick it up a notch.

The coughing got louder and harder and I could feel the blood crawling up my throat. I spit it out again, hoping my coughing would stop, but if anything, it just got worse. All the more painful, too.

It hurt so bad, that it brought me to my knees and I was now clutching at my throat, trying to stop the burning.

In an attempt to stop the cough, I held my breath. One minute passed. Three minutes. Six minutes. All the while, the wolves just watched me, still growling yet not as badly as before.

I took a small testing breath and found that my coughing had stopped. However, something else started happening (oh joy.). I felt hot and cold at the same time; tingles of warmth and coolness went all over my body, making me shiver. I really didn't like the feeling.

I turned and tried to step past the black wolf, but he kept blocking me. "What's your problem?" I shouted, "I need to get home _now!"_

This time, I stepped back a few steps and ran forwards. At the last second, I jumped and stepped on his muzzle, boosting myself and running as soon as my feet hit the ground. They all sprang into action behind me and I picked up my speed. I couldn't use my inhuman speed, because I wasn't high anymore and because I'd used up my energy, which meant I was exhausted.

The first two wolves jumped over me and blocked my path, the other two blocking me from behind. I was boxed in and had to cooperate now. I scowled.

"What do you want? Bark; I'll understand you." I confronted him, short and sweet. Or, not-so-sweet. Mleh, oh well.

He barked and I heard him say, "_Who are you and what are you doing here?_

"Serenity White. And I'm enjoying the moonlight," I said. He had no idea.

He barked again. "_What are you?"_

I kept my expression the same. "Human."

He seemed to process this. I asked him, "Are we done here, because I really need to get home?"

As if on cue, the tingles got even worse and more frequent, making me shiver even more violently.

The wolf barked again. "_Yes, but we'll be watching you." _

"_You don't believe that I'm human?" _ I barked out, sounding just like him. "_Smart boy."_

And with that, I left to go get some much needed sleep. I was still in my white dress and it was still wet, so I changed into a pair of pajama shorts and a tank top. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

**A/N: So, how was it? Good? Bad? Mleh? Tell me in a review! And thanks to Stargazer1364, 123, and XXTwiDieFanXXX for reviewing on my story! You guys rock! **

**REVIEW PLEASE! :) **


	5. Pain

**Hey, guys! I'm back! But before you read, I just want to say thanks to Neon Knightly and Stargazer1364 for reviewing on my last chapter! You guys are awesome! Thanks so much! **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Serenity Diane White, and the plot. **

**READ ON! **

Imprinting & Sick-Singing

It took me the entire morning to figure out why I was so sick.

You remember how I was waiting in the cold rain for Jacob to show up? Well, that's the thing; I was in the _rain._ I was holding off the change from girl to fish for two hours straight, not to mention how long I was soaked through my clothes, too. Holding off my tail is like holding something essential that your body needs to live. It's like not breathing at all, or like trying to slow your heart beat or stop it all together without dying.

It's a very hard process and not one I should be doing at all. How I held it in for so long, I have no idea. But now, my body was taking a toll; and a very hard one at that. I didn't know how long it would last, but I hoped it wouldn't be long, because I still have school to go to.

Right now, Austin is currently asking his boss to give him some time off, even though I told him I would be fine on my own. He obviously hadn't listened and was right now trying not to scream into the phone. I sighed. I was just a bother, that's probably why he didn't pick me up last night.

With my super hearing, I heard almost imperceptible footsteps climbing the front porch. My brother had barely hung up the phone when the knock on the door caught his attention. I heard him go to the door and open it, growling, "What do you want?" to whoever was on the other side.

"I need to speak to Serenity," a familiar voice said quietly. It was Jacob! Was he here to apologize?

"Well, you should've thought about that before you stood her up on her birthday yesterday," Austin said angrily.

"I know and I'm sorry, but I need to speak with her now, it's important!" Jacob pleaded.

I didn't want to speak to him right now, I was mad at him and still sad that he'd stood me up, but I had to go out there for a different reason; and fast.

I stumbled up and out of bed very unsteadily and immediately fell to the floor with a loud thump. I cried out as I felt my knee crack, but start healing almost immediately. I hadn't meant to let the cry out, but it slipped and I heard Austin whisper to himself, "Not again."

Yep, you guessed it; I've been doing this the entire morning; that's why he was calling his boss for time off. I lurched back to my feet as I felt the nausea return, and I leaped for the door and fell out on the other side, right before I, once again, vomited on the floor. Man, I didn't know I had so much food in me! I usually just dry heaved, but this time, vomit actually came out.

Austin ran up the stairs and held my hair away from my face, murmuring meaningless words in my ear. I coughed as I finished and looked towards the staircase that was not five feet away from me to see a very tall and buff Jacob.

What… the … heck?

Just yesterday, he'd been lanky and short, and now he was buff and tall! And _what _happened to his hair? It was cropped short now! There was also a tattoo on his arm!

"What _happened_ to you?" I croaked, looking into his eyes. Big mistake.

Once I looked into his eyes, I couldn't look away. I was drowning in his rich, dark brown eyes. I was staring and I could feel Austin looking back and forth between us, but I couldn't look away. The one who did look away was Jacob.

He looked angry and was shaking slightly. "Nothing happened to me, I grew up. I came to tell you that I can't be friends with you anymore, Serenity. I can't be around you."

"Why not?" I whispered, felling my heart break with every word he said.

"Because, I-I don't want to. And we just can't ok? Get that through your head."

I didn't want to, because if I did, than I would break beyond repair. And I didn't want to be broken; not anymore.

"So that's it then? You're leaving me behind for- what? Where were you last night? You promised you'd meet me at the bench and you never came. I waited there for hours, Jake! Waited there for you. That's why I'm like this," I said. I coughed slightly at the end as if for emphasis.

"I don't want to be friends with you anymore, which is all you need to know. I don't want to have to… _deal_ with you anymore," he grimaced.

"So… I was a burden to you all this time? From when we were kids, to now? You were pretending all those times that you told me you cared about me. I was really just a bother. Pathetic and useless to you, why didn't you tell me that from the start? Why didn't you just save yourself all this wasted time laughing and playing with me, and pretending that you cared? God, I feel so _stupid,_ that I was so blind to this! I should've seen it." I told him, tears that I refused to shed burning my eyes.

He didn't answer me, and I didn't want him to; I was the one talking now.

"I can't believe I didn't see it. And to think, I actually thought you really cared! What a stupid mistake. Why did you do this to me, Jake? Was it just you? Or was it Quil and Embry, too? Never mind, I don't care anymore! But what hurts the most, Jacob, is that you waited _17 years_ to tell me something that I probably would've understood. It hurts to think that every shared laugh, every shared smile, endearment… _everything _was a _lie._ And I fell for it; hard. You know what, Jacob, get out. Get out now, I can't bear to look at you. And before you leave, I want to know one thing; where were you last night?"

I looked up at him, despite what I said, and saw his face. He looked torn. Good.

"…With Bella," he said softly.

"Bella, as in Bella Swan, Bella?"

Jacob nodded.

That was the last straw. The tears flowed out like a broken dam, and I turned my head to hide them, ashamed of showing weakness to the one who probably wanted to see it.

"Get out, Jacob. Get out, now. I—," I couldn't finish my sentence. My throat was so tight and hot, that I couldn't speak.

I saw his feet turn away and go down the stairs. My heart was shattering into a million pieces and I couldn't stop it. I sobbed into Austin's shoulder as he picked me up and helped me into my room. I could feel myself going numb and almost welcomed it, but I pushed it away by reminding myself of the times Jacob, Quil, Embry and I had all spent together; back when all I believed in was a lie.

_Flashback~_

"_Where are you, guys? I haven't given up, yet!" I shouted into the woods, where we were playing hide and seek._

_I saw Quil's arm poking out from behind a tree and grabbed it, making him jump and let out a whine._

"_You always find me first!" he complained. I shrugged and pointed towards a bush where I saw Jacob's sneaker poking out._

_I pounced on it and grabbed his leg before he could run away. He laughed and I laughed with him, Quil joining us on the ground. I heard a branch crack and Embry fell out of the tree we were underneath, landing beside me and Jake. We all laughed harder at that and had tears coming out of our eyes._

_I leaned back and collected handfuls of fallen leaves, then threw them into the air, making them rain around us. The sun streamed through the tree tops and we watched the colors contrast with the leaves and dirt. We all looked at each other again and burst into laughter, just because we wanted to. _

_End of Flashback~_

That day had started and ended perfectly. But now that I knew it was all a lie, it haunted me like a bad dream. I had to do something. I vaguely remembered Austin telling me that he hadn't been able to get time off, so he had to go to work. I had the house to myself.

Along with many knives, my room also had musical instruments. Especially guitars, both acoustic and electric. Right now, I chose one of my favorites, a black and white one with silver paint splatters. I tuned it and started to strum it and sing a song that kind of suited my situation regarding the numbness that was on the edges of my mind, like an eagle, ready to swoop down on their prey. The song was called "Pain" by, of course, Three Days Grace.

"_Pain, without love_

_Pain, can't get enough,_

_Pain, I like it rough,_

'_Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all" _

I played a short guitar solo, unaware that someone was watching as well as listening to me sing.

"_You're sick, _

_Of feeling numb;_

_You're not _

_The only one;_

_I'll take_

_You by the hand,_

_And I'll show you a world that you can understand;_

_This life,_

_Is filled with hurt,_

_When happiness,_

_Doesn't work;_

_Trust me,_

_And take my hand,_

_When the lights go out,_

_You'll understand…_

_(Chorus)_

_Pain! (Pain!) _

_Without love,_

_Pain! (Pain!) _

_I can't get enough,_

_Pain! (Pain!)_

_I like it rough,_

'_Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all… (2 xs)_

_(End Chorus)_

_Anger, and agony,_

_Are better, than misery,_

_Trust me,_

_I've got a plan,_

_When the lights go off, _

_You'll understand…_

_(Chorus 2xs)_

_I know, that you're wounded,_

_You know, you know, that I'm here to save you,_

_You know, you know, I always here for you,_

_I know, I know, that you'll thank me later…"_

Right now, I was slowly sinking to my knees, feeling the weight of it all, but still singing the song.

"_Pain, without love,_

_Pain, can't get enough_

_Pain, I like it rough,_

'_Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all…_

_Pain! Without love,_

_Pain! Can't get enough,_

_Pain! I like it rough, _

'_Cause I'd rather feel pain than nothing at all,_

_Rather feel pain than nothing at all,_

_Rather! Feel! PAIN!"_

When I struck the last cord, I completely collapsed on the floor. I set aside my guitar, and mourned, mourned for the betrayal, mourned for the pieces of my shattered heart.

0000000

It took about two weeks to regain the strength I lost in the strain of holding off the fish-change. And even then I was still weak. I could just barely dress myself. I wondered how I'd carry my book bag around school for the next 3 week of school until we go on our 3 month break.

As I carefully stepped down the stairs in a gray sweater and black jeans with my convers, I heard Austin talking on the phone with, who I assumed was the principle of our school.

"Can you please ask her teachers not to make her do too much? …Like, don't make her walk across the room too much, and also, can you please excuse her from P.E, as well? …Because she's too weak to do anything that requires more than a little effort. …Yes, thank you very much, Mr. Mendoza. I appreciate it very much."

I walked slowly to the kitchen, for it still hurt to move too much.

Austin and dad looked up at me as I entered the kitchen, and I slowly sank into a chair, wincing as I touched the chair with my sore muscles. They both looked away quickly, but not before I caught the angry and sad look on their faces. I knew why they looked like that, though.

Before I came down to eat, I had looked at myself in the mirror and barely recognized myself. My normally tan skin looked sallow and sickly pale, I had dark circles under my eyes, and I looked extremely exhausted, like I hadn't slept at all in the two weeks I'd supposedly been resting. And I had been; but it took longer to regain strength without the full moon.

My hair had lost some of its shine, it looked thinner, and I was getting split ends, which was something I never got. _Ever._

"Morning, guys," I croaked. Oh, and did I mention that my voice sounded like a chain smoker's? Pathetic!

Austin looked up, trying not to look alarmed like he did whenever he heard my voice. "Morning, baby girl. How are you feeling?"

"Good, still weak, though. And I don't feel hungry; not right now." I turned away as he looked at me, concern filling his face. Along with my appearance taking a toll, so was my metabolism. And my body, inside and out. I was _way _thinner now, thin enough for you to see my ribs if you lifted my shirt. Covered by the shirt, it only looked like I had lost weight.

I also hardly ever ate anymore. I only ate once a day, at dinner time, and mostly picked at my plate of food, not really wanting to eat any of it. I had loss of appetite, major weight loss, major complexion problems, and it all added up into one giant health problem: depression.

I hated even to think about it. I didn't want to be so weak, falling into depression over one boy. But I couldn't get out of it no matter what I did.

"Okay, well I'm not going to force you to eat, but take something with you, just in case. I'm going to be dropping you off at school, too by the way." Austin got up, grabbing both the keys of my truck, and my book bag.

I nodded at him and croaked, "Bye dad, see you after school."

He came up to me, and kissed my forehead softer than a moth's wings. "Bye, baby. Call either me or Austin, if you need something, ok?" I nodded at him and smiled a bit uncertainly.

I walked out the door with Austin, and to the truck, opening the door and climbing into the passenger side. Austin got in his seat and started the truck, easing it out of the drive way.

The ride to school was silent, except for the rumble of the truck's engine. As Austin pulled into a parking space at school, people were already either coming toward us, or talking and pointing. Most of them had relieved smiles on their faces, glad that I wasn't dead. Some just looked curiously at us and the large crowd gathering around the truck.

Austin turned off the engine and turned in his seat to face me. "You don't have to do this if you don't want to, you know."

"I know," I said nothing more than that, and his mouth quirked up on one side in a wry half smile.

"Gosh, you just never back down, do you?" he shook his head and chuckled lightly.

"Have a good day, baby girl," Austin hugged me tightly, forgetting momentarily about my sore muscles, and I hugged him back feebly.

"I'll try," I rasped.

I grabbed my book bag with weak hands and turned to open the door. When I couldn't, Austin reached over and opened it for me. We both got out and were quickly surrounded by the mob of students. We made our way to each other from around the car, and he gave me a hug, gentler than the last.

He started to walk away, to walk home. I vaguely remember him saying something about needing more exercise; I hadn't believed it at the time, because he had some pretty thick biceps.

I walked gingerly towards the office, surrounded by the giant mob that was asking me a ton of questions, one of them in particular catching my attention:

"Do you have cancer, or something?"

I turned in the direction that the question had come from and said, "No, I do not have cancer, so if you can all _give me some space_ to get into the office, I'd really appreciate it."

Some people looked sympathetic when they heard my voice, while others looked either horrified or disgusted. Well, screw what people think; Gosh only knows that they hardly do it at all.

I attempted to pull the office door open, but couldn't manage it. I rasped, "Can someone please help me open the door?"

Some random girl which I had never seen before opened it for me, and with a smile, I walked in and to the front desk. Ten minutes later, I had my excuse note, in case my teachers hadn't gotten the e-mail from the principle, and was walking to my first period class. When I walked in, the teacher took one look at me, and instantly put on a pity face.

"Welcome back, Serenity. Please take your seat so we can start the lecture," Mr. Barnes said. Mr. Barnes was only a few inches taller than me, and had a slight southern accent. He liked to wear dark colors and rarely wore any bright ones, unless it's our school's 'Spirit Week'.

I did as I was asked and tried not to wince as I sat down a little too heavily in my seat. I heard a gasp to my left a row over, and turned to see who it had been. I should've known.

Jacob Black was staring at me in gape mouthed horror, assessing how I looked; my complexion, my state, my sallow skin, and the light sheen of sweat that had appeared from exerting the effort of walking to the office, walking through two long halls to get to this class room, and sit down. I know, pathetic, isn't it?

I narrowed my eyes at him, and turned my attention to the board, where Mr. Barnes was talking about the religion of Islam, and some other stuff. I fiercely tried to keep myself focused on Mr. Barnes's lecture, but it was difficult. I could feel his gaze on me as if it were burning a hole through my head.

I was very relieved and triumphant when the dismissal bell rang. I had successfully kept my eyes on the board and not at all on Jacob. Mental high-five!

When I went to my locker, however, my elation came up short. I had _all of my classes with Jacob._ And in some of them I sat right next to him. In art, my favorite class besides music, I sat between all three of them. I remembered with a little sadness that it was because I sat between them that it was my favorite. Well, other than the fact that it was also an easy A+.

_Oh well,_ I thought._ You can deal, right?_

I surely hoped so.

And I did deal with it. I kept my eyes averted from Quil, Embry, and Jacob whenever we walked in the halls, whenever I had a class with them, and I especially did when we were at lunch. I sat with my (girl) friends, which I hadn't seen since my birthday, when they'd surprised me with a charm bracelet as a present. I was wearing that same bracelet when I sat with them at the table.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?" Brianne asked me. She was a skinny and tan brunette, who had given me the seashell charm on my bracelet. They all had given me a charm to represent them, and when they all explained why, we all had a laughing fit right there in the hall way, with tears and everything.

"No, I'm not hungry," I shook my head. It was the truth; I hadn't worked up an appetite, not at all. Their faces all filled in concern.

"But didn't you say that you haven't eaten at all today? It's 12 pm already and you mean to say that you're not even _slightly_ hungry? Not even remotely?" Addison asked me from across the table. She was a slender blonde, who had given me a rose because of her green thumb.

I shook my head. They all sighed, well, all three of them. "Don't worry, it's not like I'm going to die from not eating in 5 little hours. I think I'm just going to go and wait for you guys by my locker, ok?" I stood up when they nodded and carefully walked to my locker, out of the cafeteria.

No one was in the hallway when I walked through it. Or so I thought. Halfway through the walk to my locker, someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into an empty and unused classroom.

I recognized the room as the old science class room that our old science teacher used to have before she moved away. It was dusty and old looking, but still in good condition. The grip that had me was hot and firm; too firm. I let out a strangled cry of pain and tried to wrench my arm out of the person's grip, but they held on.

I spun to look at the person and start shouting—or, rather, croak—but I the words caught in my throat when I saw who it was. Oh, I was definitely going to do some shouting soon.

"Hey," Jacob said. Hey? _Hey?_ That was all he had to say for completely destroying me? HEY? Well, he had another thing coming!

"What do you want?" my voice was even hoarser than before, and I was thankful for that; make him feel bad for hurting me.

"Listen, I know what I told you was bad and that it hurt you—," I cut him off.

"Bad? _Hurt _me? Oh please, don't try to de-guilt yourself, when you very well know that it was much worse than that. Bad? It was _horrible._ Hurt me? _It tore me apart. _And yet you have the nerve to try to down play it? To show up at school and try to talk to me, convince yourself that you didn't do a lot of damage? What do you want now, Jacob? _What do you want from me?_ Haven't you already done enough?"

His face slacked at my words. "O-ok, well, I guess that isn't the best choice of words, but I just wanted to tell you; I noticed that you didn't eat. Can you please eat something? I don't want to see—,"

"What do you care? Is it any of your business what I do or don't do?" I asked him.

"Well no, but—," Jacob stopped abruptly. "Look, I'm sorry, ok? I know you're mad at me, but that's no excuse for you to starve yourself."

I widened my eyes in incredulous anger. He did _not_ just make this about him.

"This has nothing to do with you! I'm just not hungry, ok? In case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in the prime of my health," I told him. I put a hand to my now stinging throat; note to self: don't yell from now on.

"Then why aren't you eating? I heard that you haven't eaten all day; you have to be at least a little hungry," he argued.

"No." I set my angry gaze on him. I squared my shoulders and walked toward the door, but Jacob snatched at my arm. The sleeve of my sweater had gone up and exposed my skin. Where his nails touched my skin, there were cuts which were bleeding, the blood running down my arm at an alarmingly fast rate.

I gasped at the flash of pain that shot through my arm and tugged uselessly at his grip. He looked down at my arm and looked shocked at what he'd done. He hadn't even applied that much pressure. I went the door, the anger rolling off of me in waves. This time he didn't try to stop me.

I tried to open the door, but I couldn't. I was so pathetically weak and stupid that I couldn't even open a door. I let out a breath/ scream of frustration and slumped down to the floor, hurting myself hugely in the process.

He came over and was about to touch my shoulder, when I stopped him. "Don't," I told him through gritted teeth. Jacob sighed and sat across from me on the floor.

"I have something to tell you, Renity," he started.

I chuckled darkly. "So it's Renity now? Not Serenity?"

He frowned but said nothing.

"Thought so."

"Can you let me finish? I'm trying to tell you something. I wanted to ask you a favor."

"_A favor?_ Are you kidding me? Why should I? You don't deserve it; all you did was lie to me for the past seventeen years of my life, and for what? What did you hope to gain from this Jacob? What could you have possibly gotten from this? The satisfaction that you succeeded in hurting me? In getting me to believe you?"

"No! All those things I said, I didn't mean them! If you would just listen, I can explain," he said.

"I don't want your explanations. What is this favor that you want, anyway?"

"Will you tell Bella that I'm ok and to not worry about me? She's really worried and—" I interrupted him—again.

"Do I look like I give a shiz about Bella? What do you take me for Jacob? A fool? You're a jerk you know that? If you don't want her worrying, say it to her face and leave me the hell out of it."

"Fine, you don't wanna help me, then just go. _I'll _tell her myself."

I was suddenly seeing red. I was filled to the brim in boiling, raw rage and I could tell that if I didn't control it, I was going to regret it.

"Open the door."

He looked at me quizzically; he obviously wasn't expecting me to say that. He got up and did what I told him. The hall way was filling up with people now. I left the room and went to go vent out my feelings in a closet that was way brighter than what his words meant.


	6. The Truth and Realizations

**Hey! What's happening? Ok, just kidding but anyways, I owe you all a huge apology for not updating sooner for the last chapter! I'm sooooo sorry, my mom gave me a suspension from my laptop, and I couldn't get it up in time before she gave me the probation! But, I made up for it by giving you guys over 3,000 more words than I'd originally thought to put! So just know that if I ever not update for more than two weeks, or something know that I'm either on a forced withdrawal, or I'm dead. So, read on!**

**REVIEW?**

It went that way for a surprising amount of time. Jacob staring at me in class, me avoiding eye-contact and conversation. I was excused from all sort of effort that wasn't walking around in class or in hallways. It was relieving, but at the same time degrading. Insert tired sigh here.

It did break, however. On the second week of my return, I had caught on to the new routine: Jacob, Embry, and Quil all sat with the La Push gang, now. _So that's who they all ditched me for_, I had thought.

I didn't have the energy to care anymore. Each and every day, I was getting weaker and weaker; not at all getting better. My appetite was getting even smaller. Instead of feeling hungry by the time I had to eat dinner, it was staring to get to never at all. This just goes without saying that I haven't eaten in two days.

I overheard them saying something about a war and newborns. _Newborn what?_

I also overheard them saying something about Bella Swan. I wondered if she had started this war. I bet she had. I only heard snippets of the conversation because they were all on the other side if the cafeteria and everyone was making noise. I also thought I'd heard the word _phase_ and _wolves_ but I couldn't be sure. All I knew was that it was all somehow connected to Bella.

So that brings me to where I currently am, in my secret meadow in Canada, where I had teleported myself to (using my wizard powers, of course). I am currently lying in bright and happy sunlight, soaking up as much as I can and pondering what they could've been talking about. I was also thinking about my health.

My mind just kept revolving around that stupid question that the unknown person had asked me: _"Do you have cancer or something?"_

What if I really _did _have cancer? What would I do then? I didn't want to die and leave my father and brother alone. They're all I had left now. And I'm all they have left, too. _We always have each other,_ I'd always told them. That was back when mom was still alive. I never said it again.

I didn't want to lose anyone else that was important to me. Ii still remember when my mom died. It was near Christmas. She had talked to me on her way home from work, on the phone.

"_I can't wait to see you, baby. And your brother and father, too. Are you excited for Christmas?"_

Her voice was as sweet as honey and softer than feathers. I remember thinking that she was everything I wanted to be when I grew up. A mother with a passion for writing, singing, and_ music_ in general, strong love for her children and husband, and a killer smile that could make any man fall to his knees in a heartbeat.

Everyone that had ever known my mother and had seen me said I looked and acted exactly like her. I was happy whenever they told me that, because I knew it was natural and 100% me. Sure I was like my mom, but I had my own flare to acting like her. We were strong and independent, stubborn and fast learners. God, sometimes I just missed her so much…

"_Yeah, mommy! I can't wait for you to get home! And I can't wait for Santa to get here, too! I hope I was a good girl this year!"_

"_You were, baby, you were. Anyways, I'll be home in about twenty minutes, ok? So tell your daddy to start making dinner. Tell him I said I want to see you guys with dinner on my plate after a long day at work."_

"_Okay, mommy, I'll see you when you get home!"_

"_Okay, baby, bye I love you so much."_

"_Bye-bye! I love you, mommy!"_

_I love you, mommy._

_I love you, mommy._

Those were the very last words I ever said to my mother before she died in a car crash. Instead of my mother knocking on the door, a police officer stood and relayed the message.

_We're sorry to tell you this, but your mother and wife was killed in a car accident a half hour ago. We're sorry for your loss._

I never wanted for her to die. Somehow, I felt as if it were my fault. She might not have paid attention when she was talking to me on the phone and driving at the same time. I went into depression for a while, but it was nothing like this. I just lost a couple pounds for not eating as much, but this was ridiculous!

I looked like I had already fudging died! And I ate so little, I might as well _be_ dead. I'm not sure how or if I'll get better, but I'm determined to do. If not for myself, then for my family. For Austin, dad, and mom.

On the ground, I felt like I was buried. Ok, well not really, but I did feel pretty heavy. I tried to sit up, and found that I couldn't. I struggled and rolled, but the most I could do was roll onto my stomach. Insert four-letter-word here.

I let out a frustrated breath and then drew it back in. I held it, envisioning the air as my strength, and then gathering it and spreading it out all over in my body. I slowly picked myself up, gingerly taking one forward step. I opened my eyes, without realizing that I had closed them. Well, I didn't feel as bad as I had before, but I was still pretty out of it.

I whispered the word that would teleport me back home. I was in my room, and I barely had any time to get my bearings before Austin burst into my room.

"Hey, baby girl. You up for dinner?" he asked me. I nodded, even though I wasn't hungry at all. He already knew this, so I had no reason to tell him.

"Well, we're going to eat at one of dad's friend's house; he invited us over. So if you wanna change…?" he trailed off, and left me to it.

I walked slightly wobbly to my closet (which had been conveniently left open) and pulled out a long sleeved V-necked purple shirt. It was light purple, and made my skin look even worse, but I didn't worry about it; if it was one of dad's friends from the office, they'd know not to comment.

I was already wearing jeans, but I had to get a belt from the closet to hold them up. Almost all of my jeans required a belt now. I pulled it to the second to last hole and tightened it. I put my favorite pair of black converse and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror.

I wasn't very pleased with what I saw, though I'd grown used to it. It was now a usual thing I saw every day, whether I wanted to or not.

Dad drove us to his friend's house. It was small and very pretty, a very homey looking place. It just about _shouted_ the word home. We all got out of the car, but I, of course, needed help from Austin. We all walked to the door, and waited while dad knocked.

A woman that was almost as tall as me opened the door. She had three ragged scars across the side of her face, but I didn't mind. I had seen worse, and I looked even worse. Dad stepped forward and shook her hand.

"Emily," he said formally.

"Mr. White, how are you?" she said warmly in return. Behind her, an even taller man came and opened the door even more to welcome us inside.

"Andrew, I'm so glad you could come! Please, come inside, all of you," the man smiled at us.

Austin and I walked in, me clinging to his arm to keep from falling over or wobbling.

"Kids, this is Sam Uley, a good friend of mine. Sam, this is my daughter, Serenity, and my son, Austin."

Austin said hello, but I only mouthed the word. I didn't want to say anything out loud and have them hear my chain smoker voice. Wait a second. Sam? Sam _Uley?_ The leader of the La Push gang. I held my expression in a smile.

I saw his face slicker in recognition when dad said my name. But how was that possible? I'd only seen him once or twice, but I'd never told him my name. And how had I not recognized him? Well, he did look really different. Taller and buffer than he had when I last saw him.

"I hope you don't mind, but some of the guys are going to eat with us, too," Sam said, scrutinizing our reactions. I kept my face pleasantly clear of any emotion other than polite interest.

"No, it's quite alright. We don't mind," Dad answered for us. Austin looked to me for my answer; I nodded, saying it was alright. We heard a lot of noise coming from the kitchen and people laughing and shouting. It all quieted down, though, when Emily whistled. She led us to the kitchen where 7 other boys were all frozen in the act of doing something.

I recognized some of them. Paul Meraz; Jared Cameron; and then the three I used to be friends with: Embry, Quil, and Jacob.

Immediately, I had all the attention in the room. Everyone was staring at me; judging my reaction to them being in the room. Instead of looking at them though, I looked at dad and Austin.

They were only looking at me, doing the same as everyone else. I rolled my eyes, and looking at everyone else except Jacob, Quil and Embry, waved a small wave. That broke the silence that had stretched through the entire room. Everyone was saying hello to me, or asking where the food was. Oh gosh; the food! I wasn't hungry at all. If I didn't feel hungry by the time we had to eat, I would have to force myself to eat it, for dad's sake.

"Okay, okay, the food's ready; it's time to eat!" Emily said.

I am so screwed.

Nonetheless, I grabbed a plate and served myself some of the noodles that were there; all the while being stared at by my brother and father. I frowned at them and nodded to the other guys who were looking back and forth between me and them. I took my plate and for to the table and sat down, while the others did the same. Austin sat to my right and dad sat in front of me.

Jacob sat almost next to me. But I ignored him the best I could, staring straight ahead and occasionally watching the others scarf down their food. I saw Austin and dad eating cautiously, watching to see if I was really going to eat the food on my plate.

I grabbed my fork and twirled some noodles on it. I brought it to my mouth and chewed. Although I wasn't hungry, I still ate it. I didn't want to be rude and not eat in; I didn't want to give a bad impression, or hurt Emily's feelings.

Eventually, though, their stares got really annoying. "What are you staring at? Haven't you ever seen a sick person eat before?"

The word came out before I could stop them. Everyone stopped and stared at me. I felt terribly vulnerable and self-conscious of myself. My chain smoker voice was horrible, I was pretty sure you could see my ribs, and I looked anorexic, or bulimic. My stomach tightened, and I felt tears sting behind my eyes.

"Excuse me," I whispered and got up from the table. I walked out the front door and sat on the porch step, wiping ridiculous tears from my cheeks. Why were they staring at me? I knew that they were amazed that I was eating, but they just wouldn't _stop!_ I put my hand to my abdomen and felt my ribs firmly through my shirt. I was so tired of being weak.

I didn't want to look like a skeleton, I didn't want to look like a dead corpse, and I didn't want to look so damn weak! I decided right then that I was going to look for a cure to whatever this was. Maybe something triggered it, maybe if I just—

My thoughts were interrupted by someone coming outside and sitting by me on the steps. I felt heat radiating from whoever it was, but didn't bother turning to look at them.

"Are you ok?" it was him; his voice. I still didn't turn, but I said, "I'm fine."

He stayed silent. After about five minutes, I told him, "Tell my dad and brother that I went home. I don't feel up to staying any longer."

I looked at him this time, and saw him looking at me already. I was once again unable to look away from his eyes. I noticed how close our faces were; barely a couple inches. I leaned back, remembering that he liked Bella, not me. He snapped out of it and nodded.

He got up and walked back inside. I stayed for a few more seconds to hear him relay the message. Then, I got up and walked straight into the woods. I walked for a little while to get deep enough that nobody could see me and then started removing my clothes.

First experiment: try Shifting into a wolf. Once I'd safely hidden my clothes, I Shifted, feeling my bones crack and realign, suppressing screams; I hadn't Shifted for so long that it almost felt like it had in the beginning, when I had Shifted for the very first time.

I started off on a steady jog, getting used to the feel of a different body. Then, I started to run. I ran and ran, not caring where I was going, just reveling in the feeling. Too soon though, the sun started setting. I ran all the way back to my clothes, put them on, and then ran all the way back to my house.

When I got there, I was exhilarated. I got my strength back! I wondered if my appearance changed and quickly went to the mirror in the bathroom (I climbed in the window of my bedroom) and was disappointed to find that I still looked pretty bad. Oh, well, at least I got my strength back!

After telling my brother and father that I was home, I went to sleep completely for the first time in two months.

00000000

The next morning I had school. I told Austin that I felt well enough to drive, but I still didn't feel hungry. I didn't think he would let me drive, but he did. I couldn't stop grinning the whole way to school. When I got there, I was a little late, because I over slept, so I had to jog a little and speed walk.

It wasn't the smartest thing to do, however. I was scared of being late and Mr. Barnes was apparently in a bad mood.

"You're wasting my time, if this happens again, I will not even bother to let you in, do you hear me?"

I'd nodded and sat down in my seat. I was so humiliated and angry, that I hadn't even paid any attention to Jacob like I usually do. What I mean to say, it that I didn't notice him at all that period.

I was also late for math class. My locker had gotten stuck and took almost the entire break to open it. So Mrs. Graham was not at all pleased. I actually wouldn't have been late if she hadn't played her little game.

"Ah-ah-ah! Step back out of my classroom," she'd told me. So I complied. "Now, step back in."

I did, but right as I did, the late bell rang. She just clicked her tongue and said, "Tardy."

I was furious. But I got back at her for it though. She asked to solve a problem on the chalkboard, so I did.

"Serenity, solve this problem," she said. So, I stood up and ignored the piece of chalk she held out for me and instead, took the eraser. I erased the problem that had been on the board and sat back down in my seat with a, "There. Problem solved; you're welcome."

The class burst out laughing, but I was dead serious. Why were the teachers all of a sudden ruining my good mood? Who shoved shovels up their butts?

By the time lunch rolled around, I was almost livid. Even the girls couldn't calm me down. So eventually, I became even madder when I overheard another conversation in P.E.

It was a conversation between Embry, Jacob, and Quil.

"…I mean, seriously man, you can't keep fighting the imprint! It's just ridiculous, you know you feel it, and we all know she feels it, too, but you just need to grow some balls and _tell her_. Otherwise, you'll lose her to someone else. Like right now…" Embry had been telling Jacob, but then they all stopped talking to watch some guy I don't even know come up to me and start talking about how he feels sorry about my being sick.

I truly didn't want to hear what this guy had to say, but I saw Jacob's face tighten when he saw me talking back. Ok, so it was a little childish, making Jacob jealous, but I couldn't help it, and he deserved it, anyways! The guy sat beside me quietly and just watched the other team play. He actually wasn't a bad guy, he was a really cool person and he was willing to sit with me and have a conversation without cringing every time he heard my voice.

Then Jacob started talking again. "Because I am in love with Bella, not _Serenity._ I mean, how am I going to tell her that I transform into—well, you know—and that I_ imprinted_ on her? Besides, imprinting on her was just a mistake, a huge mess up. I-I'm not in love with her, and I never will be. It'll always be Bella; it has to be."

That was just too much for me. Heat rose to my face, and the rejection was so evident, that I was dizzy. I stood up and nearly fell to the floor again, but the guy—his name was Riley—caught me before I could fall.

"Whoa, are you alright? Do you need to go to the office, or something?" Riley asked me. His arm was around my lower back, not quite my waist, but close. I shook my head, but groaned when it made me feel even dizzier.

"Ok, I'm taking you to the nurse's office; can you walk?"

I nodded, but he didn't listen. He put my arm over his shoulder, and his arm around my waist. I rested my head on his shoulder and let him guide me out of the gym. We didn't get far, though.

"Can I help you?" Riley asked someone. The said someone turned out to be Jacob; and he was blocking the gym doors.

"I can take her to the office," he said it as if it were already final; there was no room for argument.

Though somehow, Riley found room.

"That's alright, I got her, but if you could open the doors…?"

Instead of answering, Jacob took hold of my arm. His skin was scorching hot, and it didn't hurt, but it was uncomfortable. He started pulling me toward him, but I resisted, straining against his hold on my arm and leaning into Riley more.

"I wanna go with Riley," I croaked. Jacob winced as if I had hurt him, but he quickly wiped away any emotion on his face and continued to pull me to him, this time with more force. I actually fell into Jacob, almost falling to the floor. I glared up at him, but he was looking at Riley with a triumphant smirk on his face.

I wrenched myself away from him and said to Riley, "I'm actually feeling better now, but could you come with me to the girls' locker room? Brianne will help me from there."

Riley nodded and offered me his arm. I took it, and together, we walked away, leaving an incredulous Jacob behind.

After changing out of my gym clothes, I walked to my sixth period: Art.

In art class, I always sat between all three of them; Jacob, Embry, and Quil, I mean. I ignored them and focused on my drawings in that class. Today was no exception, except that I was still angry about the conversation I overheard. I sat in my seat and took out all of my tools; sharp pencils, charcoal in case we needed it, erasers, color pencils, and even crayons. I also pulled out my paint brushes, which ranged in size and shape.

They all came in a few minutes later, but they were all quiet, which was unusual for them. Oh well, it doesn't concern me… well, I hope not. Mrs. Greene started talking about the prompt that we had to draw, but I wasn't paying attention. My mind was still on their conversation.

What had they meant by 'imprint'? And what was Jacob about to say that they transformed into? Did they mean 'imprint' as in like the Quileute legends? That couldn't be possible… could it?

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hadn't noticed I'd started drawing already; or _who_ I'd started drawing already, until I noticed all three of them staring at my drawing post. I looked at my drawing post and immediately felt blood rise to my face. I had drawn _Jacob._

I tore the page off the drawing pad and crumbled it, then stuffed it into my book bag. I felt them looking at me and ran my fingers through my hair, blowing out a long breath. I raised my hand and looked at Mrs. Greene.

"Yes, Serenity?" she asked me.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention; what was the drawing prompt, again?" I asked her.

"Oh, that's alright, you're just drawing someone you care about, or love, miss, etc. Okay?"

I nodded and then picked up my pencil. _No wonder they were staring at me,_ I thought as I nibbled on the eraser of my pencil.

Hmm, someone I care about, miss, or love…

Suddenly, an image flooded my mind. It was of me and my mom laughing on the couch together. I was laughing because she was tickling me; she was laughing because I was laughing. I held on to that image of her smiling and sitting on the couch, happy and content.

And then my pencil was moving. It was as if it were alive in my hand, flying all over the poster-sized paper. In half an hour, I was already moving on to shading things in; her hair, the shadow of the dent in her bottom lip, her pupils, and the shadow of the crook in her neck.

I only stopped once to hear Mrs. Greene give an announcement.

"Students, for those of you who have a seventh period, you'll be staying here. All seventh periods have been canceled. I don't know why, so don't ask me, the principle just sent all the teachers the e-mail. If you do have a seventh period, you'll be having it tomorrow. Go back to work, that's all I had to tell you," she sat back down in her chair.

I continued drawing, moving on to coloring next. Her hair was already shaded in, but I still put in some brown and a little bit of burgundy to create the auburn effect that I inherited from her. I attempted to make the tan color that we—my family—all had, and was pleased and relived that I hadn't messed up. Then, I worked on the rosy pink of her lips, and then her brown eyes.

Her eyes were a little more difficult, mostly because they were so dark, like mine, that they almost looked black. I almost messed up on that because I had picked up the black color pencil instead of the brown.

After I finished, I realized I still had about fifteen more minutes of class before school ended and just sat and relaxed. My hands were colored black from using the charcoal to shade everything in, and they had some pink marks that told me they would sting later. But I didn't care, I just admired my handiwork.

If I didn't know any better—and if I didn't have the smudges on my hands as proof, as well as the non-shininess of the paper—I would've said that it looked like a photograph. I _hate_ having thoughts like that because they sound so vain and stuck-up. But from another point of view, it was true; and I hated admitting it.

Soon enough, other people were rising from their seats and coming over to look at my drawing. Mutters floated around the room, praising my work. Mrs. Greene came up to my drawing post and looked at my work. When she saw it, her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped.

"This is amazing, Serenity! It looks just like her." She smiled at me, and I smiled hesitantly back. Everyone knew my mother, whether they had wanted to or not. Just like they knew me and my family.

Mrs. Greene took my drawing pad, and walked to the room to show it to the class. I moved to stop her, but I knew it was pointless; that little woman was unstoppable when she wanted to be.

As people marveled at my artwork, I felt three familiar stares on me. I looked back at them and this time, stared them down. Deep inside, I wanted to believe that their conversation hadn't really happened, but I knew it had. I wanted answers, and I was going to get them. If not from them, then from the source herself: Bella.

After the bell rang, I ran out the art room and to my truck. But I stopped mid-step when I heard Jacob's voice call my name.

"Serenity!" he called.

When he reached me, I told him, "What do you want?"

"I just wanted to know how you were doing. I saw you with that guy in gym—," I cut him off.

"His name is Riley. And what's it to you if I'm with him or someone else? Shouldn't you be worried about Bella? I heard her boyfriend, the Cullen guy, is gone. Why aren't you with her?"

Jacob frowned. "I know, but I just want you to be careful, okay? Oh, and don't go out into the woods alone."

And with that, he left. Either he forgot everything about me, or he's daring me to go into the woods alone. He of all people should know that I don't follow orders; especially when I'm pissed at the person who's giving them.

So, of course, that was the first thing I did when I got home. I walked along the trail, but got bored of it, so I followed a new trail. After following it for about a half an hour, it opened up to a meadow.

When I first got there, I thought I was alone. But when I surveyed the area, I saw that I was wrong. On the other side to my left, was the she-devil herself: Bella Swan.

She saw me at the same time I saw her. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.

She almost looked as bad as me. Except that she looked healthier, probably because she actually ate food. I didn't answer her right away; I sensed something, something _wrong_ coming our way.

"I could ask you the same thing. We should probably go, something's not right here," I told her, coming toward her to pull her out of the meadow. Before I could, however, she locked eyes with something behind me and whispered, "Laurent."

I turned and found myself looking at a man with bright red eyes. Every instinct, every fiber of my being said to run, to bolt out of there _now._ But I had to stay for Bella, though not for her sake; for Jacob.

Laurent eyed us hungrily and started talking to Bella. I didn't get a word of what they were saying, but I knew it had something to do with the Cullen family. A feeling of dread settled in my stomach as I heard Laurent telling Bella that some girl named Victoria sent him, and that he'd been _hunting_ when he came across our scents. It was then that I realized he was a _cold one._ They were _real_.

"Okay, we should be going now, Bella. We don't want your dad worrying, now do we?" I said, tugging on her arm. She wouldn't move; she was frozen in terror.

"Oh, no, I won't let you two go just yet. I could use _you_ as an appetizer," Laurent said. Oh no, he _didn't._

"I don't think so," I snarled at him. I stood in front of Bella protectively. She didn't even notice. I was only protecting her for Jacob; she had better know that. Suddenly, he was right in front of me; if I were more human, I probably wouldn't have been able to see it, but I did.

Laurent's gaze went from gazing hungrily at me, to looking at something beyond my shoulder in disbelief.

"I don't believe it…" he whispered.

I took advantage of his distraction and took hold of his arm. In a quick motion, I twisted it behind him and put my foot on his back. With all my strength, I pushed down on his back, and pulled up on his arm. He screamed in agony as his arm tore completely off in my hands.

"Bella, you idiot, _run!_" I screamed at her. She snapped out of her trance and ran away, tripping several times in the process. Then, for no reason whatsoever, she just stopped running completely. I was about to yell at her again, when I saw what she was staring at.

The wolves; the same wolves I had run into during the full moon. Except that there was more this time. They stepped towards me. It took me a moment to realize that they weren't coming towards me; they were coming towards the vampire that I was currently holding under my foot on the ground. I released him and ran towards Bella's still frozen form.

I scooped her up by the knees and hoisted her over my shoulder. As I looked back at the wolves, I said, "Take care of it." I didn't need to elaborate what that '_it'_ was. The black one nodded and then they all ran to catch the vampire.

As I ran, with Bella Swan still frozen on my shoulder, through the wolves the entire thing replayed in my mind. The Quileute legends were true. Vampires were real. The Cullens were vampires, which meant they were the good vamps. Werewolves were also real.

And suddenly the conversation in P.E made sense. Jacob, Quil, and Embry were werewolves. Jacob had imprinted on—oh. _Oh._

**So, what do you think? Here's an even longer chapter for you guys! Thanks to all of those who reviewed! And just a heads up: I'm going to be making the chapters longer until I get to the part where Serenity runs away. I know that my timeline isn't correct but, eh, it's MY story anyways! Also, be sure to check out the contest that I'm hosting (details on my profile) and don't forget to review! I love to hear what you guys think! Please Review!**

**I do not own Twilight, only Serenity and some of the plot. **

**~Alee B.**


	7. suicide cliff diving & missing sneakers

**Hello, beautiful readers! I know that I may not have updated in a little while, but here's the new chapter! But before you read, I have people to thank for reviewing! **

**Stargazer1364: I loved this review, mostly because you seemed speechless. Thanks for reviewing, girlie, and I hope you find the person that had the nerve to do such a thing.**

**RANDOM COOKIE NINJA: Thank you for reviewing! And thanks for saying you loved Serenity's character, too. :)**

**Loves-loves-love: Thanks! (Don't capitalize the L)**

**Meggymalna: Yay, a Three Days Grace fan! (Who's your favorite?) Thanks for reviewing on my story!**

**Anonymous: Thank you, and another TDG fan! I'm so happy that any of my reviewers are TDG fans! **

**Ok, NOW you may read on!**

As soon as I got out of the woods, Bella came to life on my shoulder.

"What were they? What happened to Laurent? Did they hurt him?" She shouted, but after that last one, I cut her off. I seem to like to do that to people.

"After he was about to kill you, you're _worried_ about him?" I said incredulously. He was about to kill _both _of us! I lifted her off my shoulder and set her on her feet.

"Well—I, um," She stammered, blushing furiously.

"That's what I thought."

Okay, I'm sorry, geez!" She cried.

After a few counts of silence, I asked her, "Do you have a ride home?"

Bella shook her head silently. "I'm worried about Jake. He was one of—," she stopped herself abruptly, and I smiled wryly.

"The wolves?" I finished for her, "Yeah, I already know. And what's funny is that I just figured it out, too. Well, come on, we'd better go. I can give you a ride home, if you want."

I didn't really want to, but I wasn't about to leave her alone in the rain. It just wasn't in my nature to leave the defenseless out in the cold. And believe me when I say she's defenseless.

"Thanks, Serenity. You don't really have to do this, you know."

I waved off her comment and started walking in the direction of my house. After about twenty minutes of walking, my house came into view. I already had my car keys in my back pocket, so I took them out and opened the truck's doors.

After we got in, I drove out into Forks. I let Bella quietly direct me to her house, but while I was driving, my mind wasn't in it. I was too busy thinking about what Jacob had said in P.E.

"_I'm not in love with her and I never will be. It'll always be Bella; it has to be." _

Those two little sentences were enough to make my chest tighten. Dang, I don't know what happened to me. My life used to be so simple. With the exception of my powers, of course. It all happened so fast. I guess I should be lucky that I have a little excitement in my life. What an understatement.

I almost didn't notice that we'd arrived at Bella's house until she pointed out the window and said, "There! My house is there."

I slowed and pulled up into the drive way.

"Bye, Serenity," Bella said as she slipped out of my truck. I waved mutedly.

My thoughts chased each other in my head all through the ride back home until one of them made itself clear: He didn't want me. He wanted Bella. It didn't matter that he imprinted on me, even though I was pretty sure I didn't know the exact meaning of the word. I was nothing to him.

But, I wasn't about to let that drag me down. I was too damn tired of this cycle; if he's not going to be the one to break it, then I am. But first things first: I need to conduct Experiment two.

Now, lately, I've been taking showers. This means that I've been holding off the change from girl to fish. You'd think I learned my lesson, but I'm not sure why I want to hold the change in. It's almost instinctual; not a good thing. I figure that if I just let the change happen, I should be back to normal. Well, mostly normal.

I was contemplating this on the way home, and when I finally got the truck into my driveway, I had already set the date for it; about three days from now, when there's a storm. That way, less people will be there, which minimizes the chances of getting caught. Plus, I've always liked swimming in a storm; keeps things interesting.

I closed the front door behind me and bounded up the stairs to my room. Nobody was home; perfect to see what I can do about my voice. I'd been wondering if it would sound the same when I was _singing_ instead of talking.

Up in my room, I pulled my keyboard from the closet that was conveniently the walk-in kind, and sat in a stool that I'd snagged from my dad's study once upon a time. I turned it on and took a breath.

I rested my hands on the keys lightly, just feeling for a moment. Closing my eyes, I started to play.

"_Remember when I cried to you a thousand times?_

_I told you everything,_

_You know my feelings._

_It never crossed my mind,_

_That there would be a time,_

_For us to say goodbye,_

_What a big surprise._

_But I'm not lost,_

_I'm not gone._

_I haven't forgot…_

_These feeling I can't shake no more,_

_These feelings running out the door,_

_I can feel it coming down,_

_And I'm not coming back around."_

My voice was crackling a bit for the first couple of words, but soon enough, my voice got stronger and stronger. It sounded the way it used to, and I was happy enough to finish the rest of the song.

"_These feelings I can't take no more_

_This emptiness in the bottom drawer,_

_It's getting harder to pretend,_

_And I'm not coming back around again._

_Remember when…"_

I continued singing, putting more emotion into it and really singing my heart out. It was just so similar to my own situation; you'd understand if you felt this way, at least once. In fact, I think I leaked a few tears when it came to one specific part:

"_I remember when it was, _

'_Together til the end'_

_Now I'm alone again,_

_Where do I begin?_

_I cried a little bit,_

_You died a little bit._

_Please say there's no regrets,_

_And say you won't forget…"_

That one part hit home, and by the end of the song, tears were falling freely down my cheeks. Well, at least when I was singing I didn't sound like a chain smoker. And now I can participate in my seventh period again! Someone needed to put Becky Daniels in her place. She kept giving everyone a superior look last week, as if she were the best singer. As if! She wishes she were.

Jacob's even in that class. I was surprised that he made it, because he wasn't really a music fan like I am, and he doesn't know how to play an instrument. I thought maybe he could sing.

"Well, that's taken care of," I said out loud to test my voice. It was still scratchy, but not as much; it sounded like a sore throat or a 'frog' in my throat. I wiped the tears off my face and went down stairs to greet Austin, who had just gotten home.

"Hey, baby girl," he said upon seeing me.

"Hey, Austin. Guess what I found out today?" I said, smiling slightly. He had looked a little surprised when he heard me talk.

"What did you find out? Is it good news?"

"It's great news! My voice sounds better! Can you tell?" I asked him.

He pretended to give it some thought, running his hand along his jaw as if he were in deep thought.

"As a matter of fact, I can tell. Wow, how'd you do it?" Austin's eyes held a glimmer of hope in them; hope that I was getting better.

"Believe it or not, I was singing. I sound completely normal when I sing, but still croaky when I talk. I'm hoping it'll clear up soon," I said, smiling wider. He smiled along with me.

"Oh, and you'll never believe who I ran into today! Bella Swan, the chief's daughter from Forks," I spoke in a gossip-like tone, the kind that popular girls at our school talk in when they gossip about who broke up with who, or who did this with someone else's boyfriend. I found it very funny when their voices got all nasal-ish.

"NO WAY." Austin played along, using a bewildered voice.

"She got lost on the trail and I had to give her a ride home," I explained, leaving out our encounter with the wolves and the vampire. He and my dad have no idea of what I can do or what I am. Sometimes, that sucks, but if I tell them, they'll only be in danger. Like the saying 'guilty by association'. The supernatural world is not safe or fair.

Somewhere along the line, our entire conversation ended up from talking about Bella Swan, to me running around the house to get away from Austin's tickling grasp. He caught me just as I was about to dash out of the living room, pinning me down on the sofa and tickling me senseless.

"No…more…Please! Mercy! Mercy!" I gasped, tears leaking from the corners of my eyes from laughing too much.

He stopped abruptly and I saw the reason why: Dad was home. He was looking at us with a mischievous glint in his eyes. Uh-oh.

"Run!" I shouted and darted away from dad, laughing all the way. Austin ran too, but he was too slow. Dad caught him and tickled him like he'd tickled me. The fact that Austin is 23 and dad is 44, made it even funnier. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that dad is actually 44 years old. I mean, he looks more like he's in his thirties; early thirties.

About twenty minutes later, we were all laughing on the sofa, having all been tickled to the point of tears. We hadn't has such a Kodak moment like this in so long, that I hadn't realized how much I missed it until that moment. The sun had already set, and it was eight forty-five in the evening.

"I'm going to go take a shower; I stink like sweat," I said. It was true, but it wasn't the smell of _my _sweat; it was _theirs. _They nodded at me and I bounded up the stairs, gathering my essentials and locking the bathroom door behind me.

One human shower later, I was snuggled in the blankets of my bed, my eyelids drooping closed.

It's best to say my dream was not pleasant.

"_Jacob," I called into the darkness. "Jacob!" I called louder, but still, I could not hear my voice in the pure and unbroken darkness. I knew he was here; I could feel him. But every time I tried to call out his name, it seemed as if the darkness swallowed my voice whole._

_Then, a flash to my right. And suddenly, I know the real reason I can't hear myself. I'm in water. Deep black water that seemed to have no end or surface. I tried swimming up, but I wasn't sure where 'up' was anymore. I couldn't breathe, but I didn't want to. _

_A hand closed around my ankle and pulled down, dragging me toward its owner. I fought as hard as I could, but it seemed that the more I struggled, the more I was pulled. An arm wrapped itself around my waist, and I knew I would have to go down. I was pulled into an unfamiliar embrace, and it felt like a human's embrace._

_The embrace was cold and hard, like the person was made of stone, but I knew better. It was probably a cold one. However, I didn't feel alarmed; more peaceful, as if something that I had already known was going to happen was happening right now. And then we weren't at the bottom of whatever this was; we were floating towards the top._

_I pulled myself out of the stranger's embrace to break out of the water. It didn't resist, it just let me go. I broke through the surface, taking a deep breath; and then was repulsed by what I'd just been in. I'd been wrong; it wasn't water that I was swimming in. It was blood. _

"_Your blood," a voice said from behind me. I swirled around in the blood to find the stranger—who was a boy that looked at least a year older than me—gazing at me menacingly. _

"_Who are you?" I said, swimming backwards. He mirrored my actions, coming closer to me. He reached me before I could get away and pulled me into an unnecessarily intimate embrace. He breathed in my scent—which probably smelled like blood—and then moved his face south, toward my collar and chest. I tried to pull away, but his grip was like stone._

"_I'm the one you've never met that knows everything about you, yet you know nothing about. What a pity it is that I have to get rid of you," he sighed as if truly saddened by the idea._

"_What? Get rid of me? Why?" I stammered questions, trying to evade the inevitable for as long as I could._

"_And you had so much potential, too," He continued, ignoring my questions entirely. He drew one hand back, poised as if to strike. I saw his arm come down. Heard my own agonizing scream. Cried for my family, my friends and Jacob and me._

_For the love I never got to show him._

_For the chance we never got._

I woke up with a sharp intake of breath. I was frantic, the blankets strewn all over the bed and floor, sweat matting my hair to my forehead, and my hands flying towards my throat. It was unhurt and whole. I breathed out in relief.

I got out of bed and checked myself in the mirror. Despite the bedhead, I looked okay. With the exception on sallow skin and dark circles under my eyes. Dad and Austin were already up and in the kitchen. I marched right in there—in my tank top and pajama pants with rubber ducks on them—and sat down in a chair with a thump. I smoothed my hair away from my eyes and stared at them through narrowed eyes, due to the light.

"I want pancakes," I told them groggily. They stared. What does a girl have to do to get some food when she's hungry around here, gosh danget? I snapped my fingers and scowled to show I was irritated. "I want pancakes!" I said louder. This time Austin sprang into action and started getting out the pancake mix. I smiled and sat back in my seat, watching him make my pancakes.

When they were done, I grabbed the syrup and poured it onto them. I can never eat pancakes without dousing them in syrup for some reason. My mother called it a bad habit. I called it an essential.

I ate each and every last bite of my pancakes; and there were four of them stacked up on each other. I hadn't realized how hungry I'd really been until I took the first bite and went all starving person on them. I almost felt sorry for the pancakes. I washed my plate and pecked both my brother and father on the cheek, then went to get changed. Screw waiting for the storm in three days, I want to try the storm that's going on _now._

I only changed into basketball shorts and a clean tank top. But I did fix my hair out of my bedhead and into my naturally wavy locks. My hair can come out curly, wavy, or straight, depending on how it feels. I can't control what looks like, but I can style it…sort of.

Putting on my sneakers, I went out the door, leaving my brother and father to their heated conversation about my change of appetite. On my way to the beach, I debated whether I should go to the beach or the cliffs. I decided to use the cliffs, for no reason other than nostalgia. When I got there, I took off my sneakers and socks and stepped to the edge of the cliff.

Peering over the edge, I felt a wave of calm take over my body and mind. I took a deep breath and took a few steps back to get a running start. I ran to the edge and flipped off of it. I straightened into the perfect diving position and plunged straight into the below 30 degrees water.

For about five seconds, nothing happened. But then, I felt my legs grow heavier and suddenly merge into one—my tail. I broke out the surface and smiled. My clothes had been replaced by what looked like a halter top style bikini top, and my shorts, well; I don't really know where my bottoms go.

I went underwater and explored around. I twirled and looped in the water, washing away all my troubles—even if I've only been in the water for two minutes. Through the vibrations of the water, I felt something fall in. I swam to the surface and looked around. There was someone in the water, someone who looked suspiciously like—oh great. The figure turned around and my suspicions were proven correct. Bella Swan had dived in the water. I started to swim toward her as a big wave took her in. looked like the storm was finally kicking in.

I dived under again, and searched for her in the murky water. There; I found her and dragged her to the surface. She was unconscious and cold, shivering from the coldness. I swam towards the shore and dragged both myself and Bella onto the sand, far enough away that the waves couldn't touch us.

"Hey, Bella," I slapped her cheek a little, "Wake up, you can't go to sleep." I looked around and, finding no one, held my hand above her lower abdomen, fingers spread wide in an almost cupping motion. Then, I slowly brought it up to her throat, concentrating on all the water that she probably swallowed and then made a fist as if grabbing on to something and pulling hard, as if I were pulling the water out of her. She coughed and sputtered, spitting out water from her mouth that she'd woken up too soon for me to pull out.

While she was doing that, I fisted my hand over my tail and dried up the water from my tail. In about five seconds, my tail was gone, replaced by my former attire.

"Bella, are you ok?" she nodded, unable to speak after sputtering out all that water.

"Well, good because I was starting to think you were on a suicide mission to kill yourself. What in the name of Gosh, were you doing, jumping off of there when you're clearly inexperienced, unsupervised, and there's a storm out?" I screamed at her. "And while we're asking questions here, why is that _I _am always saving you?" I chuckled humorlessly.

Bella shook her head as a way to say _I don't know._

Well, it looks like I'm gonna have to take you home again, so come on," I said, grabbing her hand and lifting her up. Bad move. Her hand was _wet._ I quickly dried it on my shorts, but I caught her watching me in confusion. I started walking and she followed behind, looking like a lost puppy. We went to my house, I got my keys, and we got into my car, where I drove her home.

When we got to her house, however, she went ballistic.

"That's Carlisle's car!" She suddenly shouted, scaring me bad enough to make me swerve the truck a little bit.

"Who?" I asked. I'd never heard of any 'Carlisle' except for… great. "Bella no don't go out there."

For emphasis, I locked the doors of the truck; she looked at me, incredulous. I just raised an eyebrow at her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a hulking figure by my window. I unlocked the car, opened the door, slamming it into the stranger and delivered a kick that hit his shoulder—which was about five inches above mine.

The stranger groaned and went to his knees. Only then did I see it was Jacob.

"Jacob?" I cried, not even thinking about being mortified because of the rush of irritation that swept through me. "What the hell were you doing? I could've hurt you!" I shouted.

"Well, I didn't expect you to do that," he complained, standing up straight. I noticed right then that Bella was missing.

I whirled around in a full circle. "Bella?" she'd gone into her house. Even from here I could hear the heated conversation going on between her and someone else. Well, she was smart enough to use this little dispute to her advantage. But not smart enough to not jump off a cliff—if that makes any sense to you.

I ran into her house, Jacob following close behind. It appeared that we reached the end of the conversation. Bella was already about to come out of the house with some girl who came up to the top of my rib cage and looked like a pixie. I knew straight off that she was a Cullen.

They brushed past us to the car that Bella had gotten excited about and climbed in. Jacob came up to the car and started arguing with Bella, pleading for her to stay with him. And while it stung my heart, I still listened quietly.

From what I'd heard of the conversation between her and the pixie, Bella's ex, the Cullen guy, was in trouble in Italy with some people called the Volturi. I had no idea who the Volturi were, but I had a feeling they were vamps. And now, pixie and Bella were going to save said Cullen guy, and Jacob is begging Bella not to do it. But she's going through with it anyway.

As the car sped off, Jacob stood there, shaking slightly. I thought maybe he was going to run into the woods and phase, but what he did next both surprised me and _pissed me off._

He went up to my truck, got inside and _drove away._ He left me there, cold and alone about four miles away from my house. I was _livid_. And livid didn't even begin to cover it.

"Jacob, you _fudging jerk_!" I shouted. Except I didn't say 'fudging' and I didn't call him a jerk. There were too many other words that were much more appropriate.

So I started for the long way home. When I started walking on the sides of the road, I realized that I'd forgotten my sneakers back on the cliff. I screamed in frustration. But I walked along anyway, feeling the pebbles and gravel dig into the soles of my feet. About halfway there, I stepped on a sharp piece of glass. It immediately healed, but it was kind of sore to walk on.

All I could say at that moment was that I wished I had my sneakers back.

**Soooo, what'd you think? Please review; I want to know what you guys think! I hope this was good enough for you, but I definitely ran a bit dry for this chapter. I promise I'll give you guys a better one next time! Oh, and BTW, you guys can start guessing on what she is at any time. If it happens that nobody guesses it right, then I'll pick the one closest to it. Anyways, review! I feel as though there's something I'm forgetting to tell you…hmm, well, I don't know, but I'll tell you in the next chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, Avril Lavigne, or her song "Remember When".**

**Ciao!**


	8. Running Away officially

**Wassup, guys? Ok, I couldn't wait to write this chapter, so I'm making it earlier than I expected. So, read on! And it might be short, so yeah. Keep in mind that I said MIGHT. Read on!**

_Jacob. Kill. Jacob. Kill._

The silent chant replayed over and over in my head. My vision was red, I was tired, my foot still hurt, and I was ready to _kill._

So far, I've run three miles without stopping, but now I had to stop because my foot was hurting badly. It had healed up already, but that didn't mean I was able to walk on it, let alone run. The only evidence that I had ever cut my foot was the blood, which no longer had a source. Jacob has hell to pay; and believe me when I say I am going to collect. Up and personal.

Right now, I was half walking half jogging, the soreness of my foot getting annoying and adding to my pitch black mood. Twenty minutes of half and half walking/jogging later, I was already at my house. But I walked right past it. I went about two streets and neighborhoods down and came up to Jacob's house. I walked up the porch steps and banged on the door.

Billy opened it, and not wanting to be rude, I forced an innocent smile on my face.

"Hi, Billy. Do you know where Jacob is?" I asked him in a sugar-sweet voice.

"Hello Renity! Haven't seen you in a while. I believe he's at Sam Uley's house, at the moment," Billy said in his deep and wise voice.

"Thank you! I'll see you later then!" My smile was a little more genuine this time. He waved at me before shutting the door.

Okay, then; Sam Uley's house I go! I started off again, grunting once at the pain in my foot, but then ignoring it. Another few streets over, and Sam's cozy looking house came into view. As I came closer, I saw my red truck in the driveway. Oh yeah; he was here alright. I bounded up the porch steps and banged the door.

Emily opened up with a wry smile that told me everything I needed to know.

"Kitchen?" I guessed. She nodded and let me in.

"Black!" I shouted, entering the kitchen. I saw him in a chair at the table with the other guys sitting with him. He looked surprised, and the guys did too, but then they started slowly grinning, anticipating a fight. And a fight there will be, indeed.

"Serenity?" Jacob looked both confused and wary. He had every reason to be.

"_What the hell is wrong with you?_ You took my freaking car and left me stranded almost _five miles_ away from my house! I had to walk _barefoot _on the road in the cold and dead of night because you took my truck and didn't even ask for it. You just sped off, leaving me behind! So, again, _what the hell?"_ I shouted at him.

Jacob looked scared. He stammered, apparently unable to say or do anything.

"Hey, can we take this outside?" Sam asked carefully.

"Gladly," I said, shooting Jacob a death glare and walking out the back door into the backyard that led into the woods. The rest of them followed behind. Paul was laughing and telling Jacob that he was in serious trouble.

I turned my death glare on him and he stopped abruptly, shrinking away from my gaze. Still looking at Paul, I said to Jacob, "Why did you do that? Do you even know what I had to walk on? Glass; broken glass, which I managed to step on! I get that you're mad that Bella left to go save her boyfriend or whatever, but that is no excuse to take it out on me!"

"I'm sorry, ok? I don't know why I did it, I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible," Jacob said.

I looked away from him. He sighed and looked down. Then, out of nowhere, my hand shot out and I punched him as hard as I could—in my human strength, of course. I heard a sickly crack and a flash of intense pain jolted up my arm. I cradled it absently, watching as Jacob cried out and held his hand to his nose. The boys stared at me in shock. "What?" I asked them, feeling uncomfortable under the weight of their stares.

"Doesn't your hand hurt? Is it broken?" Jared asked me in a bewildered tone.

"A little," I admitted. It wasn't even hurting that much anymore; it was just throbbing. I said as much to them and they were even more surprised; surprised and impressed.

Jacob was still groaning and I said, "Oh, suck it up; it'll heal in like a half hour. I bet it's even stopped bleeding already." Cue the boys' surprised looks. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, you don't really think I don't know, do you? Well, news flash: I do! And so does Bella, I think. Point is… get over it!" man, I was in a really bad mood! Well, that's what happens when you steal my car and make me walk over three miles!

I came at Jacob and he coward away from me, but I just reached into his front pocket and grabbed my keys.

"Wow, she makes me look tame. What did you do to her, Jake?" a female voice said behind me. I turned and saw Leah Clearwater leaning against the door jamb, looking mildly pleased and impressed. I hobbled over to her and stood next to her with my arms crossed. She noticed how I was limping and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged and said, "Stepped on broken glass."

"How can she punch you and not feel bad about it? I mean, you imprinted on her; shouldn't she feel the same way—," Collin started to say, but he was cut off my Jacob reaching behind him with one hand and hitting him on the head.

"Shut up!" he hissed.

"Why?" I inquired. "He's telling the truth. You did imprint on me, Jacob. How do I know? It turns out you're not as quiet as you think you are in P.E. or lunch. 'It'll always be Bella; it has to be.'" I spat out the words bitterly. "Sound familiar?" I asked as I saw his expression turn shameful.

He looked away. My heart broke a little.

"Thought so," I whispered. I looked at the forest with longing. The need to shed my skin, feel the cool damp earth beneath my paws, and run my worries away from my mind was, to put it lightly, almost overpowering. Without realizing it, I took one step forward. Then I got a hold on myself and said, "I'm going to go…" I turned and went back inside the house. Robotically, I left the house, climbed into my truck, and drove home.

My dad was already asleep, but Austin was waiting for me. We said our goodnights and climbed the stairs to our rooms to go to bed. I tossed and turned for a while before finally falling asleep.

0000000000

Three weeks went by before I saw Jacob again. And Bella, too. I was walking down the beach, enjoying the rare sunshine mixed with the smell of the ocean water. In the distance, I saw two figures walking together. They stopped and looked like they were in a deep and heated conversation. A closer look said that it was Jacob. A smart bet said that he was talking to Bella. Then, out of the blue, he took her face in his hands and kissed her.

The sight made my heart wrench and my stomach drop. My hand flew to my mouth, covering it as a tear began to slide down my cheek. I ran away, looking for my truck where I had parked it. There was a huge and gaping hole in my chest. It ached and as I climbed into the truck, sobs ripped their way out. I put the key in the ignition and the truck rumbled to life. I quickly drove away from the beach.

He kissed her. He _kissed _her! How could he? I thought he had imprinted on me; I guess he was right. Imprinting on me had been just one big huge mistake. Tears blurred my vision and as I reached up to wipe them, I saw a person less than ten feet from the front of my truck. I cried out and swerved to the right, off the road.

My truck tumbled over and over, hitting trees and getting hit repeatedly. I was jostled and thrown around the truck, hitting my head against the driver's side window and the front window, the airbags not activating. By the time my truck stopped rolling, I was a bloody mess, glass stuck all over my body, preventing me from moving at all.

My entire body was in pain. My eyelids were so heavy; all I wanted to do was go to sleep. Maybe if I did, the pain would go away. I took a shuddering breath as my eyes fluttered shut, the darkness that had been clouding the edges of my vision suddenly closing in.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

What was that noise? It kept going on and on. It was annoying. I opened my eyes and bright white light blinded me. I narrowed them, waiting for them to adjust before opening them again. I was in the hospital, lying on a bed under thin sheets. The room was empty, except for a nurse who was currently setting a bouquet of flowers on a cart filled with various other items. They all had tags on them that said _get well soon! Love,_ whoever brought it.

I sat up slightly, making the sheets crinkle and the nurse turn around with a smile on her face. She was plump and short, but nonetheless, pretty, with a gentle and kind face.

"You decided to wake up! How are you feeling, dear?" she said coming towards my bed.

"Fine, I think. Um, where am I? What happened?" I asked her, alarm starting to fill me. The beeping of the monitor sped up with the beating of my heart, making the moment even more serious.

The nurse came over to me and took my hand, shushing me soothingly. "You're in the hospital in Forks, sweetie. You had a car accident on your way home, I think, and rolled off the road completely. Do you remember why?"

The memory came back in a rush. I had seen someone on the road. And it had looked like the person from my dream. I shuddered and told the nurse, "I saw someone on the road and swerved to avoid hitting them."

She nodded gravely and said, "Well, now that you're awake, you can have visitors. Your father and brother have been absolutely _frantic_! They love you very much. And a lot of your friends are here, too."

I smiled and said, "Yeah, I love them a lot, too."

"Well, I'll go get them." The nurse sped off and out of the room. While she was gone, I inspected myself. I had gauze covering my arms, wrapped around my torso, and some bandages near my hairline. I felt my face and found bumpy scratches that were probably pretty deep when they were fresh. They would be gone completely in a few hours. I heard footsteps running through the halls, getting closer to my door.

The door burst open and Austin and my dad ran to me, encasing me in two massive bear hugs. I had a feeling that they wanted to hug me harder, but didn't because of my injuries. I was glad for that, because my body just felt like one big fresh bruise.

"Thank God you're alright!" Dad cried. I hugged them back as hard as I could without tampering with the gauze. "We were so worried you weren't going to make it. It was like losing your mother all over again. Please, baby, don't scare us like that again. Promise me."

"I promise," I said, meaning it. At that moment, someone else walked into the room. It was the one and only Dr. Cullen.

"You're back," I croaked. He smiled slightly and came over to my bed, checking the monitors and writing things on his clip board.

"Yes, and you're awake," he smiled warmly at me and continued to write on his clipboard. "From what you're readings say, you can actually go home today. But be sure to take off the gauze and clean the wounds if they're not yet healed in two weeks."

I grinned. "I can go home? Right now?" He nodded. I pumped my fist in the air and said, "Yes!"

Dr. Cullen smiled and left the room. I smiled at Austin and dad, then got off the bed and looked around for my clothes. They left the room to let me change. When I was finished, I came out and walked with them to the elevators to go down to the waiting room. As soon as the elevator doors opened on the first floor, I was met by a huge crowd of my friends and the boys from Sam's house—Jacob included.

I cut through them to get to the door that led outside of the hospital to greet everyone. When we were all out, I was bombarded with hugs and kisses on my scarred cheeks. When Jacob came up to me, I stiffened, but then I hugged him; just a one armed hug, because I was still upset about what I had seen at the beach yesterday… or was it yesterday?

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked, scrunching my nose in confusion. Dad and Austin shared a look.

"About five days," Austin told me gravely. My stomach dropped. _Five whole days?_

I shook my head. "And what happened to my truck?"

"Completely totaled," Dad said matter-of-factly. Drat! Now I don't have my own ride! "I know what you're thinking. You do in fact have a car, however."

Okay, now he's confusing me. What car?

"Austin recently entered a contest. You know, like the kind that they usually host in the mall? Yeah, he entered his name, and he won! He won a new black Volvo and he's giving it to you, baby."

My eyes were about to pop out of my head. A Volvo? For _me? _Even when he probably entered for himself to win the car, he was giving it to me. I have the best brother on the planet!

"Aw, thank you thank you thank you!" I cried, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly. He hugged me back and whispered into my ear, "Anything for you, baby girl. Besides, I bought my own two days ago; my boss decided to give me a raise, and I got enough to buy one with the other money I had been saving up."

I laughed. He pulled back and I let him go with a quizzical expression. He smiled and held up a pair of keys. I took them and hooked my arm in his. Many of the other people that I had greeted had already gone home, but a few lingered. The pack, for instance. And that's it. He walked me to the new car and graciously let me drive. I drove smoothly, without fault the entire way home.

It turned out that I had woken up at seven in the evening. And now, it was almost nine by the time we made it back home. And believe it or not, I was tired. I said as much to dad and Austin and they chuckled and told me it was normal. My body needed sleep to heal. So I did. And I slept pretty soundly for someone who had been sleeping five days straight.

000000

At school, it was still the same routine with the guys and me. Avoidance. But there was more and more talk about these 'newborns' and 'war' and 'bloodsuckers'. I guessed that the bloodsuckers were either the Cullen family or other vamps, but I had no idea what the war was about. However, when I put the words together, it sounded an awful lot like 'war with newborn bloodsuckers'. And the only way to find out for sure was to follow them.

So, one night on a weekend, I did. I had made myself invisible with my witch powers and used my flawless stealth to keep extremely quiet. After following their wolf forms to a clearing, I saw the Cullens on the other side. I sat down on the soft grass to watch the show. From what I could hear, they were training for the newborn war. I had been right.

Watching them was a little unnerving. They were almost as fast as me, moving so fast that if I were more human, I would've missed the entire thing. Although, I thought I saw Bella watching them, too. And judging from her squinted eyes and lost expression, she was missing it. Haha, sucker.

When they finally dismissed the wolves, I had learned that in three days, they would be going to war with an army of newborn vampires. They were faster and stronger than older vampires, but their inexperience was their downfall. I also learned that they were going to war for Bella. It was probably Jacob's idea to put all of his pack brothers in danger over one human girl who had used him as a rebound when her boyfriend had left her. He is so _stubborn_ sometimes!

Well, if they were going to war, then I would be, too. That was my Jacob going out there; I had to protect him.

Wait—did I just call him _my_ Jacob? Oh my gosh, I think I did. Oh well, he was my best friend first, b- I mean Bella. I jogged home, eager to go to sleep. Today was Wednesday; I had a feeling that Saturday was going to come to fast.

That was my last thought before I drifted to sleep in my warm bed.

000000000

I was right. The past three days flew by in a short little routine: school, homework, training, sleep. All in that order, fortunately for me. Today was the big day, and I was anxious. I decided that I had stalled enough time and should start getting there already. I ran out of the house, heading for the forest. I knew where the clearing was; I should get there in no time.

But I was late. And I came the wrong way. I came up to the cave where I guessed Bella was going to be in, and sure enough, I smelled her scent on everything there.

Apparently, Bella had been busy. I walked right in on a passionate kiss consisting of her and Jacob. This time, I was prepared for it, but that didn't mean that I wasn't still hurt by it. I swallowed my tears and followed Jacob as he went to the battle ground. He dived into the fight, phasing mid-jump, and fought hard against the vampires that tried to bite him.

Then, I stepped in. I Shifted more fluidly than I ever had before and jumped into the scene. I was easily bigger and stronger than the other wolves, about two times the size of a horse. I was full white and ready to kill some vampires. The others, while shocked and surprised, continued fighting and I joined them, dismembering several vamps with my teeth and ripping them off of the pack's backs.

Somewhere along the road, the fight ended. We all sat there—the pack that is—catching our breath, but I was poised and tense, still sensing something else here. I started to growl softly and the others followed suit. I looked around, counting them all up. Paul, Embry, Jacob, Quil…wait, where was Leah?

I saw her coat, a flash of gray in the corner of my eye. She was trying to take on one last vampire alone. She was losing and Jacob, being the only one closest to her, stepped in. he got it off of her, but it went after him. I saw is put its arms around is right side and squeeze. He yelped in pain and then I was seeing red.

The only thoughts going through my head that moment were: _Mine. Protect. Mine. Protect._

I leaped at the newborn and ripped it to shreds for hurting my Jacob. When I finished the job, I turned and found Jacob breathing hard and trying to move, but not quite doing so because of the pain. I trotted over to him and nosed his face, whining softly. I licked his muzzle affectionately and nosed him again. He licked me back once, but then caught himself doing it as if he hadn't noticed he was doing it at first.

Embry and Quil phased back first, coming over to help Jacob phase back. When he did, he was screaming and cursing. Then, the black wolf phased into Sam, and he came around to help lift Jacob and take him home. I didn't phase back; instead I ran back home through the back yard. I Shifted into human form and grabbed some clothes to replace the ones that I had ripped out of.

I jogged all the way to Jacob's house, freezing when I saw Billy and the pack on the front porch with pain etched clearly into their features. At first I didn't understand why, but then I heard a scream; Jacob's scream.

"Serenity, you don't need to hear this. You should go home," Billy said gently.

I shook my head. "He's in pain; I have to be here with him," I said, even softer. Then, Dr. Cullen stepped out of the house, telling Billy that Jacob would be alright as long as he stayed in bed and rested. Billy thanked him, and at that moment, Bella ran up to Carlisle asking if Jacob was okay.

Dr. Cullen repeated the message and added, "He's been asking for you, though, so you can see him if you want." So Bella went inside the house, calling Jacob's name. I heard mumbles from a conversation they were having, but then I heard some words painfully clear:

"Bella, just know this: I am in love with you. And I always will be. I'm not going anywhere; I'm going to stay here for as long as you want me. It will always be you, Bells. Always."

My heart shattered completely. In fact, I was sure I heard a crack. But it turned out that I had just broken my own hand. I had been clutching it and hearing those words made me squeeze a little too tightly. I didn't feel the pain. I was too broken to feel anything.

I murmured something to Billy about having to go home and to tell Jacob that I had been there. As I left the house, I ran. I ran to my own house, wanting to be in the comfort of my own home, yet knowing that I wouldn't be comforted. I had to get away_. Now_.

I got home and packed up some stuff. Just the essentials: clothes (a few pairs of t-shirts and shorts and jeans), my phone, iPod, and lastly a few of my knives. I picked the one that my mother had passed on to me that had been my favorite and the one that Quil had gotten me for my birthday. I debated on whether I should bring my phone with me after all, and decided to leave it. I wouldn't be gone permanently; just for a few weeks. Or months if I had to.

I left a note for Dad and Austin so they wouldn't worry too much about me. _Dear Dad and Austin, _I wrote.

_I needed to get away for a while. Don't worry, I won't be gone forever. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but just know that no matter how long I'm gone, I'll be coming back. I promise you that I will. My leaving has nothing to do with the two of you. I love you guys very much and it hurts me to leave you, but like I said, I won't be gone forever. Please, don't look for me._

_Love, Serenity. _

Leaving the note on the coffee table where I knew they would find it, I left silently, like a ghost. As I tucked in my bag with my belongings into a secret dispatched place of air that I called my 'air pocket', I stripped off my clothes and fluidly Shifted in the forest for the second time that night. Then, I began running.

As I ran, I gave in to the thoughts of the animal that growled inside of me, that had been clawing for a way out. And as I ran, I left Serenity Diane White behind in the dust.

**So, what do you think? Tell me in a review. I finally got to the part where she ran away! Yay for me! I'll try to update sooner now. And what I do in the next few chapters—meaning who I include—actually is based on a dream I recently had! So, this is a warning, ok? Don't say I didn't warn you, because I did! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Twilight, only Serenity. Ciao! **

**~Alee B.**


	9. Hospitable Stranger and coming home! :

**Hello everybody! Thank you all of my beautiful reviewers, for reviewing on my story and for wanting more chapters! I smile insanely with each and every one of them! So, I'm going to answer/respond to all of my recent anonymous reviewers and then get on with the chapter! I am apologizing in advance for whatever I do wrong; because I'm sure I'm gonna jack something up in here. **

**JJ: I'm glad you thought so! Thanks for reviewing! I have Renity's picture on my profile (the celeb that I think fits her most appropriately), but she has auburn hair, brown eyes, and tan-ish skin. Her hair goes mid-back, but it's gonna change. Why? You'll see. *wink, wink***

**That's it for the anonymous reviewers on my eighth chapter, so read on!**

From the moment Austin White stepped through the front door of his two-story house, he automatically knew something was wrong. It was quiet; too quiet. Normally his sister would be playing her guitar and singing, or playing her music from her iPod with the volume all the way up, but right now, there was nothing but silence in the house.

"Serenity? Baby girl, are you home?" he called up the stairs. No answer. He climbed up the stairs and went into his sister's bedroom; only to find it vacant and cold, with his sister nowhere to be found. Austin kept repeating her name while searching the whole house for her, but hard as he tried, he couldn't find her.

He fell back on the sofa, anxious and tense until he found a note on the coffee table with both his name and dad written on it with his sister's familiar neat scrawl. Dear Austin and Dad, he read.

I needed to get away for a while. Don't worry, I won't be gone forever. I don't know how long I'll be gone, but no matter how long I'm gone, I'll be coming back. I promise you that I will. My leaving has nothing to do with the two of you. I love you guys very much and it hurts me to leave you, but like I said, I won't be gone forever. Please, don't look for me.

Love, Serenity.

Austin was both relieved and sad that she had to go and that he didn't know exactly where she was, but at the same time, he understood. There had been times when he himself had wanted to go away and just disappear for a while. He just had to trust his sister's word and pray that she knew what she was doing. And in a way, he knew that while she didn't know what she was doing or where she was going, she would. And then she would be right back here, wiser and stronger and able to take down anything that came her way. Because that's just who she was; a strong, independent young woman with the heart and will of a fighter. Just like their mother.

_Renity_, Austin thought to his sister wherever she was, _if mom could see you right now... she'd be so proud of you, baby girl. No matter what you think of yourself, you are a star in the eyes of many. Be careful. _

Their father's reaction hadn't been as pleasant. He was frantic, screaming about how they needed to find his baby, that she might be in trouble, and that it was probably all Jacob Black's fault. Austin knew that Jacob had something to do with it, but he kept it to himself. He could deal with him later. Right now, he had to work on getting his father to understand that she needed time on her own.

"Why the hell are you not doing anything? Your sister is out there somewhere, cold and probably lost, not knowing at all what she's doing, and you're just sitting there like you don't care!" His father shouted. Andrew wasn't mad at his son; he was mad because he was scared, and he was using anger to cover it up.

"She knows what she's doing, dad. You read the letter; she wants time to herself. She doesn't want us to look for her. We just have to give her time! She's been through hell in the past couple of months. She deserves to have time to herself, where we don't have to be a few rooms away, worrying. She's fine, and she'll be back. We just have to wait. She'll be back," He told his father soothingly.

Andrew calmed down somewhat, but he was still anxious. His daughter was out there somewhere, whether she was safe or not, he didn't know. All he could do was have faith; faith in his daughter, faith that she would came back in one piece safe and sound.

And they prepared, as father and son, for the wait of their beloved one's return.

0000000

And that is what brought me to where I am now. Running back and forth all over in the forest of both La Push and Forks. I don't go into more populated areas, only the more secluded and hidden underbrush. It's been over a month now—almost two months—, since I ran away. More than once, I wonder how their reactions were like. Did they start looking for me even though I asked them not to?

There isn't a day that I don't question my decision. Was it the right thing to do? Did I overreact? Should I go back? I also wondered if Jacob missed me. Did he even notice that I was missing? Did anyone notice? Dad and Austin probably have. Especially a month after I left.

Lately, I've had to watch out for a coven of cold ones that had found me in my Nocturnal form. They were extremely thirsty; thirsty enough to go after an animal when it clearly wasn't their diet style. I had to run away from them to a safer spot to Shift so I could fight them off. Once they saw what I was, they ran away, but the look on the leader's face told me it wasn't over—not even slightly. So now I was on the lookout for three vamps, all blonde, kind of Siamese looking—meaning they looked the same, kind of—red eyes, and two girls, one boy. The boy was the leader and I could tell from first glance that he was aggressive. The other girl, the taller one, was controlling; she liked being boss whenever she could. The last one, the little girl, was small and confused, like she didn't know what she was doing with them. I could tell that she was probably roped into this with them—meaning they probably forced her, or tricked her into thinking they took her in out the kindness of their hearts.

Yeah, right. I had nothing against the little one—unless it was her that was really the master mind behind all of this and she was just faking the whole 'weak and defenseless' act. Well, I just have to wait and see. I wonder what Austin is doing right now. I wonder if he—

A rustle about a mile away from where I stood behind me caught my attention. I tensed, ready to run out of there or fight the attacker if necessary. Another rustle sounded; closer this time. Then I figured it out. They were taunting me, making me think they were behind me, when they were really in front of me. I knew this because I could feel it. Call it intuition, if you will, or sheer gut-feeling/instinct.

If they're going to play games, then I'll play too. I kept my cool, just walking forward, feigning caution. In the distance, a little off to my left about half a mile, I heard a soft tinkling laugh; the older blond girl. I mentally smirked. They thought they were at the head of the game; but they were way wrong. The ball's rolling in my court now, vamps_. I'm_ in control.

I kept walking, looking around for them and feigning caution still, when I tensed again, anticipating their next move. They were now moving towards me, coming at me from all sides—except my right. I sped off in that direction, hearing them chase after me. I heard the blond scream in frustration. Looks like the blondie doesn't like losing her own game; too bad for her!

Then the little one caught up to me. She stopped in front of me, attempting to stop me by just standing there or catching me off guard, but I was expecting that. I veered to the left in a futile attempt to get away, but the blond boy was there. And flanking my other side was the older girl with a smirk on her overly-angelic face. I was boxed in. They would catch me if I went backwards. My only option was to fight my way out if they made me.

The boy cocked his head and said, "Dear sister, I believe your research has proved to be correct. The reservation must be infested with these fascinating creatures. Shall we have a look later, after we take care of this one?"

I had a pretty good idea of what he meant about, 'take care of'. And I wasn't going to stick around to see if I was right. I tried to get away, but the boy grabbed me, his arms wrapping around my neck. And then I was seeing red. Every instinct in my body was screaming for me to get him off of me, that he was a predator. So I did what my instincts told me: I threw him off of me and crouched, ready to spring if I had to. The girls hissed and I growled in return.

They all came at me in a blur of motion, but I saw it. I bit the boy, ripping his left leg off and went for the older girl, tearing out only her forearm before the little one pulled me back. I was so far gone in my red haze that I bit her too, and then went after the other two again. I destroyed the boy first, but not before he bit me.

I howled in pain as I felt the venom creeping into my system, burning the whole way. But I had to finish the job of killing these things before they could kill me. So, ignoring the pain the best I could, I tore the vamp apart. The blonde girl was screaming in shock, I think.

"You were supposed to be dead! Our venom is supposed to be instant poison to you vile creatures!" She shrieked. _Well, I guess not_, I thought at her. _Get your facts straight!_

I lunged at her, tearing her entire arm off this time. To her credit, she put up a good fight. It took me a little longer to destroy her, especially when she was clawing and biting and punching me while I tried to rip her to shreds. And when I finally did, the little one started trying to kill me, too.

She was pretty strong, but not strong enough. Her older and deceased siblings taught her nothing in fighting, probably telling her that her strength would be enough. I was actually sorry that I had to kill her. She had also gotten quite a few bites in there too, and I could feel the venom starting to spread even more inside me. Maybe if I run some more, my body will burn it off.

So, I ran for a few hours. Around the third hour, I noticed two things. First, I had run all the way to Canada. Second, I wasn't healing and my body was shutting down. As far as I could tell, I wasn't dying; just falling asleep, I think. I crashed in the woods, near someone's cabin. I lay there, breathing hard and fast. I decided to Shift back into my human form, and was thankful that I had some clothes on. Granted, they were shredded, but I had a bra and panties covering the essentials, so I didn't care.

My shirt was shredded and hung onto my torso in taters; my shorts were the same. I lay there, blackness closing in until I heard footsteps coming my way. But I couldn't bring myself to care. The scent of my blood was thick in the air I was breathing and all of my wounds from battling the vampires were stinging. My thoughts were muddled and I could feel the thick venom creeping even further into my veins.

I couldn't form a single coherent thought as the darkness swept me away, and Jacob's face faded from the insides of my eyelids.

~0o0~

Naomi Gonzales thought of herself as your average person. Red hair, green eyes, not too tall, not too short. Normal figure, not especially curvy or doughy around the middle. She jogged in the woods behind her cabin house that she lived in with her husband and goddaughter. She went to parties with her friends, or met up with them to have coffee or lunch. She even went dancing with her husband when they both felt they wanted to. She definitely wasn't an out-of-the-ordinary kind of woman.

So you can imagine how surprised she was to find a bloody and beaten girl in the back of her cabin house just beyond the fence that separated her house from the woods. She had just been about to go for her usual morning jog, dressed in sweats and a tee shirt with a light sweater over it. Before she had gone out though, she had seen a giant red smudge on the forest floor just beyond her backyard fence.

She had gone out to check what it was, but never expected it to be an injured girl, looking to be about seventeen years old, her clothes ripped and hanging off of her in tatters. Naomi rushed toward her, grabbing the girl's wrist to check for a pulse. It was faint, but still there. She dragged the girl's limp body all the way into her house, thanking her lucky stars that her husband was out on a business trip with his friends.

She left her on the deck of the back yard in front of the sliding glass backdoor. Naomi ran to the closet in the hall to grab a blanket to wrap around the girl so her blood wouldn't stain anything. Returning to the girl's body, she proceeded to wrap the blanket around her and carry her body the best she could into her house and on the black couch.

Grunting, she went to the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kit from under the sink, all the while debating her options. Should she call the police? Well, there was the possibility that she wasn't from here. She could be a runaway, or have abusive parents. Or she might have been thrown out of her home and left to defend herself. Well, one thing for sure was that she wasn't calling the police until she had the girl's story straight.

Now, all she had to do was wait for said girl to wake up.

Little did Naomi know it was going to take a lot longer than she thought.

~0o0~

The first thing I did when I woke up was groan. My entire body hurt so badly. I opened my eyes and looked at my surroundings. I was on a couch in someone's living room. I sat up and searched for said someone, and my eyes rested on a woman sitting on the loveseat to the right of the couch I was laying down on.

"So, you finally decided to wake up, eh? Who are you?" the woman asked upon seeing me awake.

"I could ask you the same thing. Where am I? And who are _you_?" I shot back.

The woman smirked. I liked her already. "Naomi Gonzales and you're in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. My turn: Who are you and what are you doing here? It's obvious you're not Canadian, at least not directly. So spill."

"My name's Serenity White, I don't really know what I'm doing in your living room, or in Canada, and I think I might have some Canadian blood in there somewhere." It wasn't entirely a lie; my mom's blood line was all over the world. I was Asian, Canadian, Mexican, Native American… the list goes on and on.

"Did you run away from home?" Naomi asked me, raising a thin eyebrow.

"Boy, this is starting to feel like Twenty Questions, Naomi." If she caught my hint at all, she ignored it, or she wasn't fazed by it.

I sighed. "Yes, but not because of what you think. I chose to run away for a while because I wanted time to myself. They didn't do this to me," I gestured to my bloody person, a grimace on my face as I took it all in. I wasn't as bad as before, the only things different were the bandages covering different parts of my body. Even without looking, I knew they were already healed.

I guess the vampires' poison didn't work. I must have burned it off when I was running. And then, like a strike of lightning, I was jolted to awareness of the fact that I was human for the first time in over a month. It felt almost weird now to have fingers and toes when all I had for almost two months were paws and hind legs.

Naomi got up and headed to the kitchen, asking, "Are you hungry?" I considered it for a moment. I was, in fact, _very_ hungry; absolutely _ravenous. _

"Yes," I said uncertainly. I got up and followed her, sitting on one of the stools around the island at the entrance of the kitchen.

While she was gathering pans and ingredients, she made small talk with me. "So, does everyone call you Serenity? Or do you have a nickname?"

"I have a nickname; Renity," I replied to her.

"Renity? Why don't they just call you Serena or something like that?" Naomi inquired curiously. I swallowed discreetly before replying.

"Because that was my mother's name." I didn't elaborate any further than that until she asked me.

"Was? As in…?" She trailed off uncertainly.

"Yeah, she died in a car accident when I was eight. Eleven years ago, it's hard to believe it's been so long," I said, staring into space. For some weird reason, Jacob's face popped into my mind. His chocolate brown eyes made me feel like I was drowning in them. His sharp features, his russet tan skin… his entire being drove me crazy. And right now, I wanted to be with him more than ever.

Naomi tsked knowingly. "I know that look; you like someone, don't you?" she said.

I flushed and tried to use irritation to cover it up. "Are you serious? We were just talking about my mother's death and now you're accusing me of being in love?"

"I never accused you of being in _love_," she smirked evilly. She had me and she knew it.

I flushed even more and ducked my head, laughing a bit. She laughed too.

"I knew it! So what's his name? Is he cute? A friend, boyfriend, acquaintance?" Her questions kept flying at me, so I began to tell her the whole story.

"Well, his name's Jacob…" and the story began. I told her everything, blocking out the parts about my powers of course, but still telling her all that happened.

"Wow, I think you handled that well, except for running away from them," Naomi said once I'd finished.

I hung my head in shame. I knew it was probably immature and selfish to run away from my problems, and I regretted the decision and hated myself for it, but hard as I might try, I can't take it back no matter what I do. The best I could do was make up for it in any way possible.

"Well, I won't scold you since it seems you already know the consequences of your actions. But I'm not going to let you eat in my kitchen all dirty like that!" She gestured to my torn clothes and bloody skin. "Go take a shower. The bathroom is down the hall, second door to your right." I nodded and went to go do as I was told.

Stepping out of the tub, twenty minutes later, I dried myself up and grabbed some clothes that I had in my 'air pocket'. Dressed in a tee shirt and jeans, I walked out and sat at the counter where Naomi was currently helping herself to a bowl of cereal. A plate of pancakes was cooling off beside her, steam rising and fluttering away from the plate.

She pushed it to me wordlessly and I ate it silently and hungrily without any syrup. I didn't ask for any because I felt it would be rude. When we both finished, I asked her a question that had been gnawing at the edge of my mind.

"Naomi, how long was I asleep?" she looked up and didn't answer for a moment.

Then she said, "Almost two days. If you hadn't woken up when you did, it would've been two days exactly. So, I guess what I'm trying to say is that you've been asleep for over a day."

Wow, I guess it took a little longer that I thought for the venom to go away.

"So, anyway, now that I've seen you clean and more or less groomed, how did you grow your hair so long?" Naomi asked me. My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. What?

"What do you mean 'so long'? It's only up to my mid-back," I told her.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but I'm pretty sure you're sitting on it right now," she said, looking pointedly at my bottom. I followed her gaze and stared open-mouthed at the sight of my hair being long enough for me to sit on and still have enough to move my head in any direction and not tug on it.

I was pretty sure it had grown more than _six inches_ in about _two months_.

"Holy crabbit," I said, tugging my hair out from under me and staring at it. It looked even redder than it had before, looking like a light shade of brown in brighter lighting, and darker in normal lighting. I bet if I stood in direct sunlight, it would look absolutely _red_.

"I didn't even notice! Wow…" I trailed off, not knowing where to go from there. Naomi smiled and shook her head.

"So, where're you from?" she asked me. She asked me quite a lot of questions.

"La Push, Washington," I mumbled half-heartedly.

"What's your dad's name?" And so, the questions went on.

The rest of the day came and went, and I was going to sleep on the couch again, but my hair kept getting tugged from being underneath me. So, I put into a _long_ braid to keep it out of the way. Satisfied at last, I told Naomi goodnight and went to sleep.

Only to have Jacob's face come into my dreams several times, in my week long stay in Naomi's house.

On my last day, I couldn't take it anymore. The ache inside my chest was unbearable, and I had to be with Jacob if I wanted to stay sane. So, I told Naomi I was leaving.

"Really? Leaving already?" she had asked me. I nodded and she sighed as if she had expected me to say I was leaving.

"Well, I'm not holding you here, so I give you my blessings and my goodbye, so you can go safely," She smiled at me and I smiled back. With a small twinge of surprise, I realized that I was going to miss her. I came over and hugged her. She hugged me back too, squeezing me tightly before letting go.

"So is this the part where I get to see what you really are in a Kodak moment?" She smirked.

I cracked a half smile. "Yep, and you don't tell a soul, you hear me?"

Naomi nodded gravely. I had already packed up all of the few things I had, so I just went outside into the woods a little more farther than the spot where Naomi had found me a week ago. I slipped off my tank top with my back towards her, and then Shifted, not caring about my already torn sweats.

I shook my fur as if I had dirt on it, and looked at Naomi. She was gaping at my huge and pure white form. I grinned an eerie wolf-y grin and then turned to go. Naomi pet my fur and smiled. I trotted away about twenty feet from her and turned to look back. She was softly smiling, still. On impulse, I threw my head back and howled a thank you to her. She waved at me and I could've sworn I saw a tear slid down her cheek, but I couldn't be sure.

Then, I turned and ran to go home for the first time in two months.

Naomi shook her head, still smiling. _How did I get so lucky?_ She thought to herself. Chuckling, she walked back into her house to wait for her husband, who was already walking through the front door with a smile on his face upon seeing her.

It was dawn when I got home. I wasn't about to barge in there after not being home for two months, so I waited in the woods impatiently until about nine o'clock before finally Shifting back into human form. I dressed into a pair of clean jeans and a tee shirt with sneakers. Smoothing my long hair back, I knocked on the front door and waited for someone to open the door.

Austin opened up, looking surprised, happy, and relieved to see me. "Serenity! Your home, baby girl!"

Dad came racing up next to him, looking much the same as Austin and they both enveloped me into a hug that I gladly returned with just as much enthusiasm, if not more. "Yes I am and it's going to _stay_ that way! It feels good to be back," I told them, a grin threatening to split my face.

They ushered me into the house and I was suddenly even happier to be back home than before. I apologized to them over and over for leaving, but to my utter surprise, they said they understood why I left. I was thankful that I wouldn't have to explain, so I let it slide.

"We have to have a welcome back party for you! We're inviting everyone; nobody's turning us down no matter what!" Dad said, already walking towards the phone. I laughed and started planning with them.

It was going to be a surprise; Dad and Austin were going to invite everyone—meaning the pack, pretty much—but they wouldn't know who they were coming to see. That way, I could surprise everyone there and we could enjoy ourselves.

An hour of planning later and we were all ready to go to sleep. We said goodnight to each other and went to our rooms. My room was exactly like I had left it. I put some pajamas on, braided my hair, and crawled under the covers, falling asleep the second my head touched my pillow.

**Review! I want to know what you think! :) Man, chapter nine already! My baby's growing up so fast! **

**~Alee B.**


	10. Greetings and Revealations XP

**Hi y'all! How's it going? Thanks to all of you lovely reviewers that reviewed or added my story to your Favorites/Alerts list! I love you all. There was one anonymous reviewer that didn't have a name and I didn't understand their review. If that's you, please explain in a review what you meant! Thank you! Now, read on!**

From where I stood, the crowd looked like one big brown smudge on the white sand of the beach. I was taking deep breaths, trying to calm myself down so that I could go and reveal myself to everyone. I was so nervous, but I didn't know why. Austin and dad were standing in front of the crowd, settling everybody down and getting them ready so that I could come out.

I felt like I had to go pee. But I really didn't, it was just the nerves. Then I heard Dad snap three times as the signal. I almost peed right there on the spot. They didn't know that I was all the way out here, but I told them I'd be able to hear the signal no matter what. Taking more deep breaths, I started silently walking on the beach, coming closer and closer to everyone's seated forms with each step.

When I was five paces away—and they still hadn't heard me—I heard Seth say to Austin, "What's going on, guys? What did you bring us out here to see?"

I decided that was the time for me to intervene. So, gathering all the courage I could muster, I said, "Not a 'what'; a whom. And that would be me."

Every single head whipped around at the sound of my voice. My mouth hitched up at the corners into a greeting/ 'I missed you guys' smile. Several of the pack and Sue stood up and tackled me to the floor—literally.

The breath was knocked out of me and I huffed, laughing as I was squeezed by everyone in a group hug. It was like they were trying to make sure I wasn't going to disappear or fly away again. Even when we got out of the hug they were all either standing really close, or touching me in some way. It wasn't entirely uncomfortable, and to me it meant they cared. That they missed me too.

It was only when I reached up to smooth back some stray hairs on my head that I realized I was crying tears of joy. It sounds cliché when it's put that way, but it's true.

"Oh my god, where have you been! We're so glad that you're alright!" Sue said. I was bombarded by a lot of greetings like 'Yay! You're home!' and 'Great to have you back, safe and sound'. I truly and completely felt like I was loved by family right then.

"Oh my, could it be? Is this really the rebellious and musical Serenity Dian White that I saw last at the airport about five years ago? My, you've changed!" a familiar voice said from behind me. I whirled around and gaped at what I saw.

Standing with a happy grin on her face, was Rachel Black, Billy's eldest twin daughter. She looked a little different that she had when she left home. Instead of the usual straight hair she used to have, it was curly and shiny. It wasn't curly enough to look like a perm; it looked natural. She was more slender and a bit taller than she used to be. Other than those minor details, she looked just like I remembered her.

But that wasn't what I was gaping at. Sure I was surprised and delighted that she was here, but the fact that she was in the arms of Paul Meraz, who had a grin on his face, was what struck me as a sight to behold. And behold I shall; who knows how long this will last?

"Rachel!" I said after I'd gotten over the initial shock. I ran at her and hugged her tight. She hugged me back too, laughing as she did so. "I can't believe you're here!"

"I decided to visit. I heard how things were going over here, and decided that I wanted to come back for a visit. And believe me, I'm glad I did! I mean, _damn_, girl! When did you get so sexy and curvy?" she had both of my hands in hers and was currently holding them out like we were dancing so she could see me better. I looked down and flushed, laughing nonetheless.

"Rachel, stop it," I laughed. Everyone else laughed too at my flustered state. "So," I jabbed at Paul's side teasingly, "You finally did it, dude! Don't think I didn't notice; it was so obvious!" I laughed at his bewildered expression. Eventually, he started laughing with me, and then Rachel did, then everyone was laughing too, to the point of tears. Seth even had to go to the bathroom out house on the beach when I asked what we were all laughing at. Nobody knew, we were just laughing for the fun of it. It was a freeing feeling.

When we all stopped laughing, we talked. We talked about what I did while I was gone. Well, I didn't talk per se. It was more like they asked me and I stayed silent, debating whether I should tell and show them the truth, or just lie.

"Do you not want to talk about it?" Austin asked me, putting a soothing hand on my shoulder. I could feel his burning curiosity, through his touch, to know what had happened. Even though he wanted to know, he would respect my silence to the subject and never bring it up again; he was giving me the choice. But I was so tired of secrets.

"I'm just trying to think of a way to tell you," I mumbled, looking at the sunset. The remaining clouds in the sky were colored pink from the last light of the sun. Sue was gone, having stated that there was some business she needed to attend to. It was only the pack and my brother and father. "So I'm going to show you."

I rose from my seat on the sand, motioning for the others to follow me. I heard them follow as I walked away from the beach and into the woods. When we got far enough, I told them to wait while I went to go change. I didn't elaborate on what 'change' meant, and they didn't ask, though I felt their confusion.

I stripped of my jeans and tee shirt behind a tree and Shifted. I stepped towards them slowly, trying to convey that I wasn't going to hurt them. The pack was completely surprised, and I could tell from their faces that they recognized me as the wolf that helped them in the newborn war. My brother and father were staring at me in slight fear and complete awe.

Austin reached out and touched my fur. I nuzzled his hand affectionately and did the same to dad's outstretched hand. Sitting down, I noticed the pack was having a silent conversation between each other.

Before I could question what was going on, Austin gave a comment that I couldn't help but laugh at.

"So, you're a giant slobbery dog, eh?"

I barked out a loud laugh that probably sounded odd to them, but most likely familiar to the pack. I sobered up instantly when I noticed that not all of the pack was present. Jacob was missing. I noticed it all along, but right now it was most evident. I let out a mournful whine, which escalated into a sorrowful howl. The moon was up now, not full, but half full. I felt dad and Austin marvel at my howl and stopped when I was sure I had expressed my sorrow long enough.

I felt a tap in the middle of my right front leg and looked down. Jared was looking up at me with understanding in his eyes. "He's at home, you know. He has been worrying about non-stop. You're his imprint; he doesn't deny it now. He knows how it feels to be separated from you now, and I'm betting you do too. Go to him; we'll get your brother and father home safe," he told me. I nosed his shoulder as a thank you, and grabbed my clothes from behind the tree.

Sam was explaining to my dad and Austin what the plan was and I nodded my head at them to show my approval. Then I started running towards Jacob's house. Arriving at the woods behind his house, I Shifted back into my human form and redressed. Silently walking, I came up to his bedroom window. I peeked through and saw him in all his tall—and shirtless—glory.

Jacob was lounging on his small bed, arms folded behind his head with the lights off. I could see his eyes were open. So as silently as I could, I slid the window up and poked my head inside. I heard him shift in his bed and jumped all the way through. I landed in a crouch on his floor and looked up at him.

Jacob was now sitting up, shock and surprise written all over his face. I smiled sheepishly at him and stood up. His chocolate brown eyes followed my every move closely. We stared at each other for a while before I just couldn't take it anymore.

Without thinking, I jumped into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me and held on tightly, as if afraid I would go away if he let go. I wrapped my arms around his neck just as tightly.

"Serenity," he whispered my name like caress. I hugged him tighter as a response. "I'm so glad you're here, safe and unhurt! I thought maybe you were…. But I knew you couldn't be. But I wasn't sure. Oh my god, you scared the crap out of me and everyone else."

"I know, and I'm never doing that again. I promise," I said with all the conviction I possessed.

He noticeably relaxed. I rubbed his back absently. He relaxed even more. I pulled away and looked at him. He looked haggard and had dark circles under his eyes. I reached out and traced the one under his right eye. He sighed and leaned into my hand. I smiled slightly and asked, "So what happened while I was gone?"

Jacob's eyes snapped open. He straightened up and mumbled, "Umm, well Bella and Cullen got married."

I kept my face carefully clean of emotion. "And does that bother you?"

He shook his head quickly and said, "No! No, it doesn't bother me. I don't care about that."

I noticed he said 'that' instead of 'her' or 'Bella'. I nodded, keeping the same expression on my face. I didn't come here to fight with him. "What else?"

"They're on their honeymoon. They plan on changing her, making her one of them. They're gonna kill her! And after that, she won't be Bella anymore; she'll be my enemy. I tried to talk her out of it, but she was stubborn! She thought she could actually have a real honeymoon with that leech!" the words were coated with bitterness.

"Well Jake, it isn't any of your business. I mean, you'd be stubborn too if someone came up to you and said you couldn't have a real honeymoon with m—the person you love." I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment at the word I'd been about to say. If he noticed my slip, he didn't show it—I don't know if I was relieved or sad that he didn't.

"Well, yeah, but—," I cut him off. I must love doing that!

"It's her life. You're not her father, you're not her brother; you're only her friend. Let her do what she wants. So," I dropped the seriousness, "You haven't officially said hi to me yet." I smiled.

Jacob grinned back. Then he scooped me up high into his arms and swung me around in a circle. I was laughing while he did that, but stopped abruptly when he slid me back down. We were face to face, and I was hyper aware of the little space between our lips. I don't know which one of us pulled away first, but the atmosphere was suddenly stuffy in Jacob's room.

I awkwardly chuckled and he did too. "I think I'm gonna go—," he grabbed my arm in arm iron grip.

"You're leaving again?" he asked, frantically. I shushed him gently, bringing him to his bed and laying him down. Patting his cheek, I said, "No, I'm just going home. Go to sleep; I'll be at the beach tomorrow. There-there's something I wanna show you."

It was only fair to show him and everyone else all that I am; _all._ He nodded and closed his eyes. I waited until I heard him start snoring. I chuckled silently to myself, and someone else chuckled along with me. I whirled around towards the noise and saw Billy in the doorway.

"Thank you, Serenity. He hasn't gone to sleep this peacefully since he found out you left. And welcome back, sweetie," he whispered. I went over and hugged him from his wheelchair.

"Thanks and you're welcome, Billy. Good night." He nodded to me, and then wheeled himself to his own room. I hopped back out the window and ran home. I let myself in and said goodnight to my dad and brother, afraid of what they would say to me if I allowed a larger conversation. Putting on pajamas and crawling under the covers, I tried to fall asleep.

Thoughts of what Jacob told me about Bella ran through my head. If they turned her, they'd be violating the treaty, which would bring war between the pack and the Cullens. And there was the possibility that Edmund or whatever his name was, could and would lose control. But whatever the situation, the outcome was always the same: Jacob would get hurt, both emotionally and physically.

Could humans get pregnant from a vampire? Was there even a possibility? Well, saying there wasn't would be going against a motto that I go by: never dismiss any possibility because every impossibility is possible, logical or not. So she may or may not come back pregnant from a vamp. That sounds wrong in so many ways. She's gonna have a lot to deal with when she gets back.

Then my thoughts shifted to what I told Jacob. Was showing him my tail really necessary? Well, no, but it _was_ fair. And besides, I don't want any more secrets between us. Ever since Bella came back to Forks, we'd been growing apart. Now, I want to right things again. Staring with getting all my powers out in the open to him. I didn't care if he told the pack, but he better not tell anyone else.

It was great to see him again, though. To be in his warm arms and just…_be_. It was a great feeling, just being there and hugging him tightly. But I couldn't be sure if the haggard look was caused by my disappearance or by Bella's decision. With my luck, she'd be back tomorrow.

I really hope I didn't jinx myself.

A/N: well, there you go! I made this one short because I realized that with most of the chapters, I really didn't get the concept of 'short', if that makes any sense to you. So the story is going good so far, I would think. But what do YOU think? Review!

~Alee B.


	11. Unexpectedly long chapter and a Kiss! :D

'**Sup y'all? I'm back with the next chapter! But before you read, I want to thank all of those who added my story to alerts and favorites! Thank you so much, it was greatly appreciated! Now, I'm gonna respond to Ana, an anonymous reviewer that had a very interesting and greatly appreciated review!**

**Ana: the fact that you went and did something like that, so sneaky just to review, makes me feel so happy! It's nice to know that, while you won't be reviewing, you'll still be reading the story. Thanks for reviewing, take care!**

**Now, read on!**

_I ran through the woods to Jake's house as fast as my short legs would take me. I came to a halt as I saw him out in the front yard, playing in the dirt. _

"_Jake, there you are!" I cried, plopping down beside him and giving him a bone-crushing hug. He hugged me back, already knowing the routine that had quickly developed after mommy's funeral three weeks ago. _

"_What happened, Renity?" He asked me as I let him go. _

"_I missed you, and when I was sleeping, I had a bad dream that you left me all alone!" I buried my face in his shoulder. He put his arms around me and rocked us back and forth._

"_I'll never leave you, it was just a dream. It's ok, wanna go for a walk in the woods to our tree?" I nodded and took my face out of his shoulder, standing up and following him into the woods behind his house. We walked all the way to our tree, which was near a meadow, in silence. He held my hand tightly and I held his. We didn't find it romantic at all; it was just a show of closeness that we expressed subconsciously. _

_The tree was tall, but not tall enough for us not to climb it. There were plenty of foot and hand holds that we could use to hoist ourselves up on the first branch, which was a few feet above our heads. I hoisted myself on that branch now, and Jacob stayed on the ground, staring up at me. The tree was always in sunlight on sunny days like today, so we were illuminated by the sun's warm rays._

"_Do you promise you won't leave me?" I asked him with a serious face. He held out his hand and extended his pinky finger out to me. _

"_I pinky promise that I will never leave you." We locked pinkies and brought them up and down, still linked. We reluctantly let go, but I grabbed and held his hand. He didn't say anything, just looked at it, then at me, then away into the woods. _

"_Serenity, am I yours?" I looked at him with a bewildered expression. _

"_Mine how? What do you mean?" I asked._

"_I heard Becca and Rachel talking about us, and they said that I acted like you were mine, and I was yours. Am I yours?" he explained, looking up at me this time. I thought about it. Then a thought struck me._

"_Do you think they meant… like boyfriend and girlfriend?" I asked, wrinkling up my nose. Jacob wrinkled his nose, too. _

"_Ewww!" we said simultaneously. Then we laughed it off. _

"_I don't know, Jake. I guess you are mine. And I'm yours. But we'll never forget each other, right? Even if we move away, and stuff?" I looked at him hopefully. _

_Jacob nodded and said, "Never. So, if you're mine…" he trailed off, unsure how to carry on._

"_Then you're mine; mine forever. I'll never, ever, ever let you go, Jacob." I squeezed his hand to seal the words. He squeezed back, and smiled at me. I liked his smile; it always made me happy._

"_I'll never let you go, either. Hey, I have an idea: let's write our names into our tree!" Jacob grinned at me, and I hopped off the tree. _

"_Yeah! Wait, I don't have anything sharp enough, though."_

_Jake pulled out a pocket knife out of his pocket. He flipped it open and started to carve my initials. "I do."_

_When he was finished, he handed me the knife to carve his initials. As I did, he said, "We can carve a big heart around it when we're older, and you're my girlfriend."_

_I stopped carving and looked at him curiously. His face was turning red with embarrassment at what he'd just said. "I'm gonna be your girlfriend?"_

"_Well, if you want to, yeah," he mumbled, looking down. I smiled at him, even though he couldn't see it, and finished carving his last initial._

"_Okay then, when we're older, I'll be your girlfriend. Only yours, though. And you'll only be my boyfriend," I told him, smoothing out the carvings we made. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him grin and nod his head._

"_Okay!" He stepped forward and took the knife. In between our initials, he put a small plus sign. Then, underneath our initials, he put the word 'forever'. I felt my heart speed up a little and my body warm up a few degrees. On the tree, the carvings looked like this:_

_**SDW + JB**_

_**FOREVER**_

"_You're mine, Jacob, and I'm never letting you go."_

I sat up in bed, looking around the room for something to smash the horrible device that was making the loud blaring noise. Finding nothing, I just slammed my fist into my alarm clock, effectively shutting it up. I got up, seeing that the time was about 12 o'clock, and changed into a pair of sweats and one of Austin's sweaters that I stole from him a few years ago. Slipping my feet into flip-flops, I got out of the house, walking in the direction of the beach.

While I walked, I thought about my dream. It was actually a memory, from a couple years ago. Jacob and I were eight year olds then, both of us in the third grade. My mom had died two months before that, and we'd had her funeral the month before the memory. Jacob and I were even more inseparable than ever in those cold and hard months. He'd healed me, made me feel complete and safe.

It was such a coincidence that I had to have that dream last night.

Without even realizing it, I'd made it to the beach already. I slipped off my flip-flops to walk in the sand, before putting them back on again to walk on the sharp pebbles. Making my way over to a big boulder, I sat on it, bringing my knees up to my chest and wrapping my arms around them, hugging them to me. I missed those days; those days where I could just hold his hand without thinking he might get the wrong impression, or without worrying that he might push me away.

But I knew some things for sure: He was mine, I was his, and he promised he wasn't going to leave me. And that only he was going to be my boyfriend, and vice versa.

_He was mine first, Swan, _I thought to Bella. _Back __**OFF**__._

I was silent for a while, the occasional sigh slipping from my lips. "You're mine, Jacob," I said softly out loud, "And I'm never letting you go."

"What?"

I whipped my head around to see Jacob standing behind me. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't heard him approach. I am so stupid!

"Nothing," I said curtly. He raised an eyebrow, looking at me questioningly. I smiled mysteriously, and looked away.

"Um, okay… well, what did you want to show me? You said you wanted to meet me here to show me something."

"Right, well, follow me." And with that said, I got off the rock and started to walk towards a more secret location that I hadn't visited in almost three years. It was like a secret cove of sorts, many large boulders and pools of water that were everywhere. I walked towards the edge of the water, where the sand met the water and got soaked. The tide was low, and sea foam stuck to the sand and the rocks that were touched by it.

I took off my flip-flops and turned to Jacob, who was looking at me with a confused expression. "Meet me over there by that pool," I pointed to my left where there was a large pool of water that I could easily show him my tail in, if I sat on one of the boulders. He nodded and walked over to it, his long strides getting him there faster.

I turned to the water and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. I took a few steps back, well aware that Jacob was watching me, and ran into the water. I ran until I was waist deep—which was in eight seconds—and then dived in, head first. I felt the familiar cold tingle go down my spine, telling me that my legs were transforming into my tail.

I broke out of the water, my sweater and sweats replaced by my halter-top bikini piece and my silver tail. I went back underneath the water and swam to the pool that Jacob was waiting at. I eased my body through the boulders, careful to keep my body from the neck down under the water. Jacob was looking at me, still confused.

I sighed. "Are you ready?" I asked. He nodded and leaned closer. I took another steadying breath and hoisted myself onto a boulder, my tail and torso in full view. I heard him gasp and saw him rub his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. "You can touch it, you know. If you don't believe it's real, you can touch it," I repeated it, watching for his reaction. He slid into the water carefully and hesitantly reached his hand out. It only went half way and I closed my own hand around his and guided it the rest of the way there. I felt a tingling sensation where his hand was slowly exploring my tail, first where my knees would be, then a little lower.

I stopped him though, when his hand went a little too high on my lap for my liking. "Hey, whoa, whoa, there, dude. That's, uh, kinda private territory, if you get what I mean, you know?" Understanding and embarrassment dawned on his face as he realized what I meant and where his hand had been going.

"Oh, yeah, right, sorry! I didn't know…" I laughed at his face, and he laughed too. "So you think it's funny?" I nodded through my laughter. Then he pounced on me, knocking us both on the sand above the pool. He was on top of me, and I beneath him. We were both laughing until we realized how we looked in the position we were in. Jacob rolled off of me, and I splashed back into the water.

"So, so you have any other powers besides the tail?" he asked me, curiosity raging in his voice.

"Yeah, I can control water—meaning the ocean, lakes, ponds, any big body of water really, and just water in general—I can control heat, like fire, lava, steam, the works. And ice, too." I counted them off on my fingers. "If I wanted to, I could freeze the ocean, right here, right now. But I won't because there are living animals in there and freezing the ocean means freezing them to death. I can mold ice, too, make it into any shape that I want."

Jacob gave a low whistle. "Wow, that's pretty powerful."

I nodded. "I also have a siren voice. A siren voice is when mermaids sing in a voice so sweet and beautiful, that men—usually fishermen—would be hopelessly attracted to it. Mermaids would lure them out with their siren voice and drown them out of spite. I have a siren voice, but I don't use it. However, if I get caught swimming in my mermaid form on the full moon, I get high on its moonlight. I'd have no control over myself, and I would be luring men from all over; men and teenagers both. There would be no end until the moon goes down—which doesn't happen till, like, seven or eight in the morning."

"Wow, that's… horrible." Jacob was staring into space, probably imagining what it was like. I turned my face away to make a rueful expression. I had already witnessed it firsthand, when I wasn't in control of myself.

"I've also been practicing how to control the change. I can hold it off, as long as I have a motivation, or a drive, to keep me concentrated. That one night that I was waiting for you in the rain was the longest I've ever held it off. Two hours straight in record time," I told him proudly. That memory no longer had as much pain to me anymore. It was more of an… annoyance.

"Are you supposed to hold the change off like that?" Jacob asked me, concern creeping into his voice.

I hesitated before answering, "Not exactly…. No, wait, hear me out." I made a sound of disagreement as I saw his face turn into full blown concern. "I keep it in to be able to hang out with you guys. You know how we always hang out here, or how it's always raining, and stuff? That's why. And also to keep people from seeing me, and ending up on a lab table half way across the country."

His face turned from concern, to horror. Wow his expressions change fast.

"Hey, will you come with me somewhere? I've been wanting to see it for a while now—well, this morning, really—but I want you to come with me. So will you?" I looked up at him with my puppy dog eyes. At first, he seemed unmoved, but when I fluttered my eyelashes, he finally relented.

"Okay, okay, we'll go. But I need to change first," he added, gesturing to his thoroughly soaked shorts. He was shirtless, but he had his ever present cut off shorts on.

I waved it off. "No need; just let me dry off first." And so saying, I pulled myself out onto the dry sand and fisted a hand over my tail. Immediately, steam rose off my tail and blew away in the wind. About twenty seconds of this later, and I had my legs back. Jacob handed me my flip-flops wordlessly, just staring at my legs as if my tail would suddenly reappear. Then, I fisted a hand and pointed it towards his shorts. There was less steam, but the job was done quicker than when I had dried my tail.

Jacob patted his shorts looking for water, and, finding none, looked at me and grinned. I grinned back and took his hand to take him to our next destination. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him glance at our hands, surprised, then make a small smile and match me step for step. We finally got out of the cove and into the woods where I kept walking, not stopping or faltering for a second.

Walking down the old familiar path was like second nature, like breathing. Knowing where to go here was instinctual. The closer we got, the more I felt that Jacob recognized the path, too. He kept looking around and sighing contentedly. I smiled to myself and continued walking. Soon enough, it came into view.

There it stood in its tall alabaster bark beauty. The tree was higher that I remembered it; it had grown over the years. I sighed loudly and contentedly, and pulled Jacob over to it. I hoisted myself onto the first branch, just like I had nine years ago when I was eight. And just like he had nine years ago, Jacob stayed on the ground and stared up at me. I smiled sweetly down at him and leaned into the tree so I could just stare into his chocolate brown eyes. Without realizing it, he leaned up too, our faces mere inches apart. I wanted so badly to close the space between us, but I knew that would make him uncomfortable. I didn't want to ruin the one chance I might have of reconnecting with my best friend, whom I am probably in love with.

"You're mine, Jacob. And I'm never letting go," I whispered so softly that I almost couldn't hear myself. But I did, and so did Jacob. He smiled up at me, so innocently and adoringly, that it was almost like our fantasy from when we were kids had come true. At the same time, we both brought our hands to the carving we made nine years ago. He traced my initials and I traced his.

I looked back at him and saw that he was already looking back at me. I smiled sheepishly. We both started leaning in, our faces coming nearer—

A howl broke through the quite of the forest and our heads snapped up and away from each other. Jacob swore under his breath, and I swore vehemently in my head. _Curse you, Sam!_

"I gotta go, Renity. I'll see you later, don't worry!" the words came out rushed as Jacob backed away, and then turned around to find cover and phase. I ran after him, taking off my clothes as I went, and stuffing them into my 'air pocket'. I Shifted mid-jump and sniffed for Jacob's scent. I followed it and soon caught up to him. I ran alongside him, keeping pace with him easily and wolfishly grinning at him when he looked over at me in shock.

_Hey, babe. Remember me? _I thought at him.

_Serenity?_ Jacob thought back.

_Hey, it's the other she-wolf! _Paul's thought was loud and clear in both my head and Jacob's.

_The white wolf…. That was you? _Jacob was trying to keep focused on running and talking to me at the same time. An image of me in my wolf form flashed from Jacob's mind to ours. The image showed me fighting quickly and lethally against several vampires at one time. Then it flashed over to me leaping over him and destroying the vamp that had broken his entire right side. And finally, it flashed over to when I walked over to him and licked his muzzle affectionately. Though something was different about this image.

It was tinged with a feeling of… affection? Adoration? _Love?_

_Awww, Jakey loves his sweet little she-wolf, doesn't he?_ Paul's voice shattered the moment.

By now, we were already in the clearing where the other wolves were. Upon arriving, I lunged at Paul and snapped at his hind legs.

_Who ever said I was sweet? Or little?_ I asked, feigning malice. The other wolves chuckled and barked out laughs as Paul brooded over my comments. Then they also considered them too. I was almost twice their size, with the exception of Jacob, who was about a half a foot shorter than me.

_So what was so important that you had to interrupt a Kodak moment by calling us out here? _I asked, sitting down on my bottom and looking at Sam.

_Wait, does this mean she's a part of the pack now?_ Everyone was shocked by two reasons: One, that it was Leah's voice, and two, that her voice sounded _hopeful._

_Um, I guess if she wants to be… _Sam trailed off, asking a silent question: What's it gonna be?

_Uh, sure I guess._ I tried not to think out loud that it was only because I would follow Jacob anywhere he went, but of course, everyone heard—including Jacob. If I could blush in wolf form, I would be blushing like crazy. The entire pack was teasing me, making kissing noises and thinking in high voices. Well, not Sam anyway.

_Guys, focus! And girls… no offense._

_None taken, Sam._ I wasn't offended, especially when I was a tomboy-ish girl already, but Leah was indignant. Not that I could blame her, really. If I were like her, I would be, too.

_Wow, you're so considerate, and understanding. You see things from everyone's perspective and don't hesitate to console, or relate to them. Kim and Emily would love you, _Jared thought.

_Emily already does love her,_ Seth thought, an image of Emily scolding my dad and Austin in her kitchen for staring at me playing like a movie in everyone's heads.

_Wow, I love girl power, _I thought to them.

_Hell yeah, girl, _Came Leah's reply_._

_Okay, now can we focus? _

Everyone apologized and listened attentively to what Sam was saying. He passed the spotlight onto Seth, who seemed nervous at first, but then got into it. He told us about how the Cullens were back and how Bella was supposedly sick and her dad couldn't visit her because of the supposed rare disease.

_Disease my foot…err, paw. _I thought. There were a few tense and half-hearted chuckles, but everyone knew what I was doing. I was trying to lighten the atmosphere, but the tension was obviously too thick.

It was pretty serious, but as far as Jacob was concerned, he was just glad that Bella wasn't a vamp. At least he was, until he realized what it meant. We listened silently to his thoughts, and I was indignant to his last thought: he was sure that he had thought more into this than we had.

If anything, I thought my suspicions were correct: it could be possible that being pregnant from a vampire could bring you to the brink of death. I had heard of the legends and stories when I had wanted more information on the Cullens and other vampires in general. How it was possible and dangerous to the mother both, when the baby is in the womb, and when the mother gives birth. It's not pretty.

Forgetting once again that the others could hear me, I thought it all through. Jacob growled and started arguing with Sam. That, I didn't pay attention to in itself. But then Jacob started snapping at Seth.

_Shut up, kid! Just because you have some kind of sick hero worship thing with that bloodsucker, doesn't change the rules. They're our enemies and they are in our territory. We're supposed to take them out. I don't care if you had a fun time fighting along with Edward Cullen once upon a time. _**(This is a changed excerpt from **_**Breaking Dawn**_**, so if you recognize it, just know that I changed it so that it's not plagiarism, ok?)**

That set me over the edge. I growled at Jacob, irritated by the way he was acting. What gave him the right to take out his rage on Seth or any of us? So what if he was mad, he has absolutely no right to treat Seth that way.

_Hey,_ I snarled,_ don't talk to him that way. Just cause you're pissed doesn't mean you can take it out on Seth or any of us. It's not fair or nice, so stop it _now.

Seth defended himself after I finished talking. I heard everything and told my subconscious to record everything so I could zone out while still hearing everything. I snapped back into attention when Quil phased and asked what he missed. I replayed everything that had happened, both from when I was in it and when I zoned out. I got the sense that if he could whistle, he would have.

_Jacob, they will defend themselves well if challenge them,_ Sam said.

_Are you scared?_

_Are you that ready to lose a brother? Or a sister? And think about Serenity, Jacob. Are you really ready to run the risk of losing your soul mate for Bella—again?_

I could tell that one instantly stung. But it was the wrong approach. He would only get even more stubborn and still go along with it. And I could've taken care of myself—but I hid that thought, knowing it would only goad him on.

Then, Sam turned into Alpha wolf. He looked each one of us in the eyes and said, _The pack will not attack the Cullens without reason or provocation. The treaty's sprit is still intact. They aren't a danger to our people, or the people of Forks. Bella Swan made a well-informed choice, and we will not punish our former allies because of this choice._

I could hear and feel the weight of the Alpha command in those words, but it didn't seem to affect me. Not that anybody else noticed, especially when they had the Alpha command bearing down on them. Once it was over, Jacob started to leave the circle.

_Jacob, where are you going? _I asked him. He faltered a step, but then picked up the pace. I knew what he was going to do. I too had heard the loophole in Sam's Alpha command. He'd said the _pack _wasn't going over there and indeed they weren't. But Jacob was.

And so was I.

I shielded all of these thoughts away from the rest of the pack except for Jacob, and went to follow him, leaving the rest of them to stare at us in wonder. To give them a reason to back off, I thought about something in specific. I thought about the way I felt when I was running alone in the woods the past two months. The solitary almost confinement of the woods, of running and feeling wild and free. But still feeling held back by some invisible string that just couldn't be cut.

Jacob phased back into a human and I went behind a tree to Shift and change into clothes. That done, I came out and stood in front of Jacob, who stood there with an eyebrow raised. I knew what he was questioning.

"Like I thought before," I told him, "Where you go, I go with you."

He smiled ruefully at me before asking, "And how do you know I'm going somewhere?"

I smirked. "I know you and how you think. And," I pulled him down to my level by the front of his shirt, which he was now wearing, "because your _mine."_

(_Twenty minutes later, at the Cullen house)_

When we got there, they only knew that Jacob was there. I heard them say his name and he'd smiled, I guess, because he was causing them some grief. Jacob knocked on the door and Dr. Carlisle Cullen opened up. He looked as if he'd expected Jacob, but when he looked at me, he looked completely surprised. He greeted us and I could tell that Jacob was disappointed that it had been Carlisle to open the door. He probably wanted it to be Edward.

"I was told Bella made it back alive," Jacob said, rudely. I felt a flash of irritation both because of the way Jacob was acting towards Carlisle, and because even after I came back it was still all about Bella.

"Now's not really the best time for this, Jacob. Could it be done later?" It sounded strangely as if they were talking about a doctor's appointment. Very weird.

Then Bella's voice rang out in the background as if she were talking to someone else in the room. She said something about the point of keeping secrets from Jacob. The fact that I wasn't mentioned at all made me think my presence still wasn't known even thought they had a mind-reader and an empathy-sensitive vamp in the house hold.

Jacob pushed through Carlisle into the house. I smiled sadly and apologetically at him and went after Jacob inside after Carlisle ushered me inside. I saw Jacob had stopped and was staring at something with his mouth agape. I followed his gaze and was shocked to find that he was staring at a half-crazed looking Edward. Then my gaze shifted to Bella, who was on the white sofa and turning a little green.

The blond vamp—the really pretty one, Rosalie I think—hovered over her and snatched a basin from the floor beside her and held it under Bella's face as she threw up into it—quite noisily. Edward slumped down on his knees beside her and fell against her knees. She patted his cheek, comforting him.

This small gesture ignited a small spark in my chest. Edward and Bella loved each other so; why couldn't Jacob and I do the same? Why couldn't he just get over Bella and love me the way I loved him? Was I not good enough for him? Or did he just not love me at all? He had to feel something; it would be crazy to the point of insanity if I was the only one that felt this way between us.

"I was right…" I said, noticing a big bump around her middle. So she _was_ pregnant. Hugely so. But how could this be? She's only been gone... I have no idea how long. I wasn't here. But still, I was only gone two months; enough for her to get married and have a two week honeymoon. It made no sense!

"What do you mean you were right?" the other blond vamp asked me. He was scrutinizing my expression, monitoring my every move.

"She got pregnant. I suspected she would, ever since I heard they had a honeymoon," I answered him. "And I've only been here…not even a full twenty-four hours," I added as an afterthought.

"But how? We didn't think it was possible—," I interrupted him.

"Saying that it wasn't possible, or ignoring the fact that it could be, would be going against a motto that I have gone by my whole life. Every impossibility is possible, even at the most impossible of times. Well, that's not the original phrase, but I can't remember the right one I made when I was five, excuse me."

I tried to see things from Bella's perspective. Obviously, she had the option of an abortion; but she was choosing to have her child, just like any caring and loving mother would do. I would do it, and many others would do it, too. Even if it was killing me, like it was killing Bella. Though, from what I heard about vampire venom and what it does during the transformation from human to vamp, Bella seems to know a way to come out of this alive—with her child.

I could even see what Rosalie's part in all of this was. She was the body guard. From the looks of things, it seems that everyone else wants to get rid of the thing inside of Bella; she'd been smart enough to know she'd need a body guard if she wanted to keep that baby. I came over to her and knelt beside her, taking her cold, frail hand in my warm strong one.

"Hey," I said to Bella, "How you doin'?" she looked out my hand around hers and squeezed it so lightly that I almost didn't feel it. I could afford to be nice for now; but if there are any more problems, I'll go right back to being a b**ch again. Besides, with a baby-something in the room, I was feeling strangely motherly. It scared me, deeply.

"Good," she croaked. Edward tensed, and I knew she was lying. "What are you doing here?" she asked me.

"I had to follow Jacob to make sure he didn't get into any trouble," I rolled my eyes and we both looked at Jacob, who was still open mouthed; though this time at my sudden move of kindness toward Bella. The room was silent for a few minutes until Edward's head snapped up from Bella's lap and was on his feet in a flash. Jacob followed suit; I knew something he had thought had gotten to Edward when I saw the anticipation on Jacob's face.

I put Bella's hand gently back on the couch, and stood up just as the other two big vamps flanked Edward's sides. I stood next to Jacob and nudged him. He looked at me and I pleaded with my eyes in the most convincing manner I could. _Please don't fight,_ I thought to him. He reeled back, but then turned to glare at the vampires.

"Behave and come back," Bella pleaded to them. They didn't say anything, but I knew that they would do what she asked.

"I'll make sure they don't do anything rash," I reassured her, following them out of the house.

I once again used my subconscious to record everything they said and just stood there, looking alert, but not really feeling it. However, there was one sentence that caught my attention.

"She can have anything she wants. She can have puppies, if that's what it takes," Edward said, pausing between the two sentences. My heart stopped…then went into overdrive. What would Jacob say to _that_? The very idea was revolting. I was terrified that Jacob would agree, but I kept my expression blank. I was dying on the inside, but inattentive on the outside. You could say that I was in a momentary personal hell until Jacob said the words I needed to hear to soothe the burns.

"I can't do that. I don't feel that way about her, not anymore. I couldn't," he was looking away from me, obviously embarrassed that I was listening.

"Why not…" Edward trailed off as he read something from Jacob's mind. "I see; the imprint. So you've finally accepted? It just had to be at the wrong time."

"Wrong time for you maybe, not so much for me," Jacob said. They continued the conversation—which I didn't listen to. Then they started walking back to the house and I followed them, contemplating what was happening. My contemplations didn't get very far, as I was suddenly held back into another room and Jacob was left alone to 'talk some sense into Bella'. Whatever you say.

All the while, I was anxious. As much as I wanted to eavesdrop on the conversation, I didn't. I just couldn't. It wasn't until Edward started smiling dryly that I relented.

"You'll find who you're really looking for, Jake. And when you do, maybe this'll all make sense," Bella said with a smile in her voice.

"I…already found her, Bells. She's the most amazing person and she would do anything for the people she loves," Jacob said. He sounded dreamy, almost.

"Who is it?" Bella's curiosity was so tangible; you could taste it in the air. Well, beyond the vampire stink; I didn't mind it much, though.

"My best friend…Serenity. I imprinted on her, but I haven't been very good about it." He sounded shameful when he said that. _Good!_

"Oh, then that's… great, Jake. So when did you get together?" She sounded jealous...or maybe I was deluding myself into thinking that.

"Uh, we haven't, actually…" if I could see Jacob, I bet he'd be blushing and rubbing the back of his neck.

"Why not? How could you imprint on her and not ask her out?" Bella scolded him. Like she actually cared, anyway.

"Pshh, that's what I'm saying," I muttered, knowing Jacob could hear me. I tuned out the conversation and just drifted.

Then, Jacob was coming through the door. I stood up from my spot on the floor and stood by his side. But Bella said something that had me running at full inhuman speed into the woods in the pouring rain:

"Bye, love you, Jake."

I was already halfway through the woods when the words fell out of her mouth. That's how fast I was going, fueled by rage. And I was generous enough to comfort her! That backstabbing b—

"Serenity! Serenity, wait up!" Jacob huffed, running after me. I had slowed down some, but picked up the pace as he sped up.

He kept pleading with me, all the way to the woods just beyond his house. But then he said something that had me frozen in my tracks.

"Serenity, what the hell is your problem?"

I slowly turned around to face him, my face drenched in water from the rain, too angry to change into a mermaid. I was absolutely livid at his words.

"What's my problem? Do you want to know what my problem is?" I couldn't stop the words that tumbled out of my mouth next; and something told me that I probably didn't want to. "I'll tell you what my problem is! I love you! I love your name, I love the way you look at me, I love your gorgeous smile, and I love the way that you walk and your eyes! I love the sound of your laugh, I love the way you get angry when things don't go your way. I love the way I don't understand you at all sometimes, and I love that I could be having the worst day of my life and just seeing you can completely change my mood! And I love the fact that even the slightest touch from you will make me feel weak…. I love you! I love you, I love you, I love you!"

I had to shout over the sound of pouring rain, but I knew Jacob would hear me even if I spoke at a normal volume; I just needed to vent out my feelings…loudly. The whole time he was right in front of me and I was shouting the words right at him. There was little space between our bodies and as the last of my words tumbled from my lips, we closed the space.

I wasn't sure who started the kiss, but I knew I didn't want it to end. I didn't care about anything except for the feeling of Jacob's warm lips pressed roughly against mine. The kiss itself was pure passion, love, anger, and longing wrapped so tight that I was sure I would burst if I didn't let it out. Jacob had on hand on the small of my back and the other on the back of my head, pulling me tighter against him. I had both hands in his hair, tugging him to me even more.

The kiss was everything I dreamed of and more. It was wind, rain, fire, and earth all together in harmony, wild and tame at the same time. It was passionate, breathtaking, melting, and just pure love. I pulled back to breathe, but Jacob continued a trail of kisses down my neck and along my jaw. I pulled his mouth back to mine when I caught my breath and kissed him again.

"I love you…so much," he murmured between kisses. I smiled against his mouth and we pulled a part, breathing hard.

"See what you've been missing?" I murmured back to him, a smile on my face. He grinned too. Then, another piercing howl rang in the woods for the second time that day. We sighed at the same time. I pecked his lips one last time, and then went behind a tree to Shift.

What an eventful day…

**A/N: ….This was not supposed to happen. It just, err …happened? I couldn't help myself! I also couldn't help myself from writing another long chapter after saying I wouldn't. Gosh, I went overboard! Anyways, please review! I really wanna know what you think. And they finally hooked up! Yay! I was actually happy when I wrote that. Weird…**

**Review, please!**

**~Alee B.**


	12. Like Renesmee kinda Her mom not so much

**Hello friends! How've you been? Ok, I didn't say this on my last chapter, but I noticed the reviews going a little dry. So, I'm going to re-enforce my rule about updating: I want two reviews per chapter, please. But other than that, you've all been wonderful readers! I love you all.**

**Now, thanks to all who reviewed, read on!**

It happened about two days ago. And I still can't believe it yet. Jacob broke from the pack and became the Alpha he was born to be!

I remembered I couldn't feel the weight of the Alpha command when Sam had ordered us to prepare for the attack on the Cullens. Everyone had been confused, but then Jacob stood up and told Sam off. Sam was furious, but more insecure than anything. He didn't like the feeling of not being in control.

Seth had followed us back to the Cullen's house and Jacob had argued for him to go back, but Seth was stubborn and refused to leave. Not that I could blame him. I wouldn't want to face an angry Sam either. Then, soon enough after, Leah came along, hoping to get away from Sam, though claiming she was here for Seth. Again, I couldn't blame her for wanting to be free from the burden of a lost love.

So now, we're running the perimeter of the Cullen territory, searching for any traces of Sam or possibly other vampires. We wanted to be prepared for anything. We'd go over and spend time with Bella and the rest, then go and run patrols again. It was this little routine that kept me sane.

Apparently, Bella was going to be giving birth to her baby-thing in either a few days or next week. Today, it was Friday, so there wasn't much time left. I actually felt sad that there was a possibility that Bell may not survive.

_Find anything, babe?_ Jacob's voice rang inside my head.

_Nope, nothing yet. _I answered.

_You wanna go and take a little break while Leah and Seth run the perimeter?_

I considered it for a moment. I was a little hungry, and I could use a little break.

_Sure, I'll be right there._

I Shifted back into a human, and changed into my shorts and t-shirt. Meeting Jacob half-way to the house, I smiled at him and as he returned the smile, I laced my fingers through his. We swung our hands between us as we walked into the house. Bella was sitting upright on the couch, having improved a lot since we first got here. Jacob had thought of something while Seth and I were running patrols. He thought they should feed the baby-thing blood; something more close to its father's appetite. I figured it made sense and hadn't been too bothered by the idea. Of course, I had no right to be bothered; to each their own, like I say…sometimes.

"Hey, Bella," I said as I crouched down to give her a one-armed hug. "Hey, Edward, Rosalie," Edward nodded in greeting, while Rosalie smiled slightly at me. She had a much different reaction to me, than she did with the other wolves.

"Hey, Rosalie, I've been meaning to ask, why do you treat me better than the other wolves?" I sat down on the floor next to the loveseat she was sitting in. Rosalie put a delicate forefinger to her alabaster chin and looked deep in thought.

"I suppose, mostly, because you don't stink," she told me, a half-smile gracing her lips.

This shocked me. "I don't?"

Rosalie shook her head. "Nope; you smell more like us, though not as strong and not as much. Besides, you're smell overlaps his." She jerked her chin at Jacob, who sat on the armrest of the sofa.

"I can't read your mind, either," Edwards quiet voice sounded.

"Really? And all this time I thought you could." I shook my head.

"Rosalie…" Bella said, sounding uncomfortable. Oh boy; looks like another potty break.

"Again?" the blond statue said, smiling wryly. Bella flushed a little and nodded. Rosalie stood up and went to help Bella stand up. I had a flash of an image that showed blood and sounded of screams. I tensed as I realized it was Bella's. Bella was standing upright and looking as if she was trying to look at her toes over the giant bulge that was her stomach.

"Oops!" she bent over to pick up the cup of blood that she had knocked up by standing, even though pale hands had gotten to it first. There was a horrible tearing sound and then Bella was screaming. Her scream chocked off though, when she vomited up a fountain of blood.

Edward and Rosalie were shrieking orders to Alice and any other Vampire that was in the house, but I was already tugging at them to get her upstairs to a more situated place for this kind of thing. Shouldn't the doctor have a study or something in here?

With Edward carrying Bella in his arms, we ran up the stairs at full speed, going into what I guessed was the study. Edward set Bella on the large desk and that's when she came back around.

"Get him OUT! Do it NOW! He can't BREATHE!" She screamed, loud enough for my ears to throb a bit.

"The morphine—," Edward growled, but Bella cut him off.

"NO! NOW—!" whatever she'd been about to scream was cut off by another fountain of blood pouring out of her mouth.

Somewhere, Rosalie came up with a scalpel and started piercing the skin of Bella's stomach with her hand. But then she lost her focus and we all noticed the black glint of hunger and thirst in her eyes. The other two tried to stop her, but just when she was about to lunge, I flung my hand out and she was slammed into the wall. I didn't know or care what this unknown power was, but as Edward told Alice to take care of Rosalie and keep her down stairs, I knew I would be of more use down there than up here.

My powers would be useless to help Bella, but I could use them to keep Rosalie down stairs and away from Bella and her baby-thing. So I raced down the stairs and kneeled in front of her, where Jasper and Alice were trying to calm her down. I grasped her hand thought, _you're not thirsty, and you don't want, need or smell blood right now. Calm down and relax. _

Her hand went lax in mine and I looked up to see her smiling sheepishly in thanks at me. I nodded and said, "Stay here, I'll go get the baby."

I zipped up the stairs and saw Edward holding a bloody thing in his arms, away from Bella who was now a big and bloody mess on the desk. Jacob was trying to pump her heart for her and I could hear it faltering.

"Take the baby," Edward urged to Jacob.

"Throw it out the window," Jacob snapped. Then I stepped in.

"Give it to me," I said. They both growled, not at me, but because of Rosalie still down stairs. "I've got her under control; give me the baby, Edward. I promise I'll keep her away from Rosalie, if that's what you want, but right now, you need to take care of Bella." I held out my arms, and Edward placed the bloody thing into my arms. The baby was a girl, it turned out, and she was soaked in blood, which was seeping through my white t-shirt.

I got out of the room and went down stairs. Immediately, Rosalie came up to me and held her arms out for the baby. I tipped the corner of my mouth down and shook my head apologetically. "I'm under strict orders to keep her away from you."

She frowned and sulked back to the loveseat. I walked out onto the front porch under the moonlight. It wasn't full, but it was just one phase from it. The baby was unusually warm and her heartbeat was a lot faster than a normal human's—even for babies. She must be half-human and half-vampire. If that was even possible, but I still believe it is. There was a cold breeze outside and my breath came out in fog. I held the baby in one arm and tore my t-shirt off from the bottom of my bra-line so that my entire abdomen was exposed. I tore it all off and wrapped it around the baby girl. It was just long enough to cover her from her head to her feet.

She was staring at me curiously and I bounced her up and down in soothing motions, while patting her t-shirt clad bottom. Curse my motherly instincts! I started swaying from side to side gently, and her brown eyes started to droop. But she wouldn't go to sleep. Instead, she put her hand to my face and held it there.

An image flashed through my mind's eye. It was of a very bloody Bella, smiling weakly and moving her lips to form words that didn't quite make it past her lips. Then her face scrunched up in pain and the image faded. Back in the present, I looked down at the baby who was smiling at me, as if proud of what she'd done. She must be gifted, gifted like her father and her aunt and uncle.

"You have quite the power there, sweetie," I murmured to her softly. "You kind of do the opposite of what your daddy does. He can read what people think, but he can't read your mommy's mind. You have your momma's eyes, by the way. Brown, just like hers. And I think you have your daddy's hair color, too. A really pretty face, small nose, small mouth, small fingers," I picked up one of her hands and held it in mine, grabbing her fingers and showing them to her.

"Tiny toes, small feet…" I trailed off as I heard someone running towards us and whipped around, my hair covering the baby like a curtain. Jacob looked furious, his breath ragged as he charged at the baby and me. I jumped out of the way, nearly falling in the process and holding my hand out in warning.

"No, Jacob; stop _right there._" He paused, his breathing even louder in the near silence.

"That thing's a killer, Serenity. It killed Bella; it's the reason that Bella died covered in her own blood. It needs to be destroyed, _now,"_ he huffed.

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head once fiercely, indicating that there was no room for argument. "Absolutely not; over my dead body will you lay a harming hand on this child."

Jacob's jaw fell open. "It's not even yours! Why are you protecting it? It killed its own mother!" he stuttered.

"Bella's not dead, Jacob! If you could just stop and listen, you might hear her heart; it's beating again, but you wouldn't know that with all the blood roaring in your ears, would you?"

He held his breath and cocked his head toward the house—which had its residents out on the porch and watching me defend what was theirs. His face went slack and I knew he could hear the heartbeat of the supposed dead woman upstairs.

"Serenity, could you bring the baby upstairs to me, please?" Edward called to me from inside the house.

I zipped into the house and up the stairs in seconds, arriving in the study. The baby was silent in my arms, but looking bewildered from the events of five minutes ago. Bella's body was completely mangled where her baby bulge was and she was completely motionless, but her heart was beating still. Edward looked up at me and saw the makeshift blanket I had given to his child. The corner of his mouth tipped up in a small smile and he said, "Thanks for doing that for her. And for saying what you did outside when Jacob tried to attack."

"No problem; my motherly instincts just sort of took over, I guess. But I did mean it; I wouldn't let anybody touch her if they were going to hurt her," I said, taking a seat next to him by the desk. "I can clean her up, if you don't want to leave Bella, though. I don't think it's good for her to stay covered in blood."

Edward nodded his consent, never taking his eyes off of Bella. "The bathroom is down the hall, first door on your left."

"Got it. By the way, what's her name?" I asked before leaving the room.

"Renesmee; her name is Renesmee."

I nodded to myself, and then went to the bathroom. I started up the warm water in the bath tub, feeling it with my elbow first, and then washing the blood off of Renesmee's body. It was a tough thing to do, since I had to do it as a mermaid. I can't kneel in my tail, just like you can't bend a fish in half. My tail is like one long spine bone; well, it's actually connected to my spine, but you get the point.

I had to hang myself over the tub from my armpits, washing her as she looked up at me curiously. The water was all murky and tinged red from the blood. I grabbed a towel and wrapped her in it. Then I sat on the closed toilet and fisted my hand over it. Renesmee was staring at my tail in wonder, and when the steam cleared and my tail disappeared, she looked back up at me and touched my face with her hands.

An image of my tail steaming and then disappearing flashed to my mind. It was tinged with curiosity, and I could almost taste how curious she was. I smiled at her and took her a room that smelled like her father—at least I think it did.

Drying her up, I looked around for clothes or at the very least a diaper, but found nothing. So, I just closed my eyes and imagined my room. I imagined my hand reaching into empty air and disappearing as if there was something there. My hand reappeared in my room, in my closet. It rose to the top shelf where a box had the words _Serenity's baby clothes_ were scribbled on the side. My hand reached into the box and pulled out a brown jumper with pink butterflies on it. My hand then reached back and reappeared in Edward's room, where I opened my eyes and smiled at the jumper that was in the hand that wasn't busy holding Renesmee.

"The power of imagination," I murmured happily. I put the bewildered baby on the white couch that I was using as a changing station and frowned as I realized I didn't have a diaper to put on her. "Alice?" I called. The pixie like vampire was by my side in an instant.

"Yes, did you need something?" she asked me.

"Please tell me you have diapers. I need one—well, Renesmee needs one," I nodded towards said baby who was currently playing with my overly long hair.

"We do, I'll go get you one." And then she was gone and back in about five seconds. In her hand was a small diaper that would fit Renesmee perfectly. I put the diaper on her and then zipped her into the jumper.

"Where'd you get the jumper?" Alice asked me.

"It was one of mine, but she can borrow it for now. I'm going to need it back again, just in case."

Alice nodded and she disappeared again. I shrugged and picked up the now clothed baby, prepared to bring her to her father, but something told me I probably shouldn't; not when her mother was still mangled and probably burning right now. So I took her down stairs instead. I was carrying her the way you would carry a baby if you were burping it and you couldn't see her face.

The other vampires that had left were back and sitting on the couch, tense. When I got to the living room, they all looked up and smiled when they saw that I was carrying the baby. I smiled back and said, "Hello, everybody, would you like to meet your niece or granddaughter?"

They laughed and got up eagerly to see Renesmee. "So it's a girl, then?" Emmet's loud voice boomed through the house. It was so loud that the baby jumped, her heart fluttering even faster for a moment.

"Emmet, you scared her!" I scolded him in a soft voice so as not to scare her again. Rosalie smacked him on the back of the head—hard. I heard her mutter something that sounded like 'moron'. "Yes it's a girl, and her name is Renesmee." My voice was still soft and I was bouncing her softly again like before.

"So, is there any reason why you're hardly wearing a shirt?" Emmet asked me, his eyes glinting with quiet laughter. I looked down and saw that I was still wearing the t-shirt I'd ripped to cover the baby as a blanket.

"I ripped it to cover her like a blanket. I swear, you people were so unprepared! The only thing you had were diapers. I had to give her one of my own jumpers to keep her clothed," I said, laughing softly.

The others were all surrounding me, looking at Renesmee in my arms, where she was staring up at them. They all led me to a loveseat and gave me some space, still looking at us though. I saw her yawn, and stood up to gently rock and bounce her to sleep. I stood behind the loveseat, humming to her and rocking her so she could fall asleep.

Her eyelids began to droop and when they finally fluttered closed, she laid her head on my chest, breathing deeply and dreaming peacefully. I looked up and saw all the vampires and Jacob staring at me in awe.

"What?" I whispered so I wouldn't wake Renesmee.

"You're going to be a great mother someday, Serenity," Rosalie told me sincerely. I blushed and looked down. I met everyone's eyes and knew they thought the same thing. Then, Rosalie reached over and smacked Jacob upside the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" He hissed.

"Get a move on, bro!" Emmet whisper-yelled. We all laughed softly while Jacob grumbled, embarrassed.

00000000

Three days later, Bella woke up. I was in charge of taking care of Renesmee, who had grown alarmingly fast in those three days, while they went to hunt. They weren't gone long; just a few hours, in which I had played with Renesmee, watching her as she played with the baby toys Alice had bought for her and then throw them when she got bored with them. She like throwing them particularly at Emmet, which Rosalie and I both thought was hilarious.

Jacob had apologized to both me and Renesmee for trying to kill her and, touching my face with her hand; she forgave him like I did. Currently, I was holding Renesmee while Edward brought Bella to meet her daughter. Jacob was out there to be a test to see if she would hurt Renesmee; I thought it was stupid, but the other vampires insisted that he do it. Renesmee has them all wrapped around her little fingers. I didn't like that he was out there; it made me nervous.

They were all surrounding Renesmee and me, guarding us in a wall formation. Emmet and Jasper were in the front, Alice and Rosalie behind them, and Carlisle and Esme in front of us. Holding Renesmee on my hip, I saw Edward lead Bella into the house, Jacob trailing behind them. Upon seeing me, he smiled and went to my side, kissing my cheek and hooking an arm around my waist.

Renesmee and Bella had their eyes locked on each other. Bella leaned closer and Emmet and Jasper sprang, grabbing her arms and holding her back. She murmured to them that she was okay and Alice chided them, telling them that they would want a closer look, too. Slowly, the wall formation broke away and Renesmee put her hand on my neck, an image of the bloody and human Bella appearing with a twinge of a question in it.

"Yes, that's her, Renesmee," I murmured. She reached her hand out to Bella and Bella mirrored it as if there was an invisible line between them. It made me mentally sigh. I wanted a child of my own so badly. I remember that as a kid, I'd always wanted to be a mother like my mom. I had always wanted kids. And now I wanted one more than ever.

"You want to hold her? She is your daughter, after all. She's been waiting for you for the past three days," I told Bella. "I would know; I've been the only one besides Esme and Edward to hold her."

Bella nodded eagerly. The boys let her go, but they weren't fast enough for Renesmee's liking. She cried out, hands out stretched with her fists clenching and unclenching towards Bella; a clear sign that she wants her mother. Every person in the room rushed toward her, asking if she was alright and touching her. The only one who didn't was Bella.

"It's ok, she's alright; she just wants Bella," I told them. They let Bella hold her and it was a happy reunion between mother and daughter—until Emmet brought up the touchy subject.

"What did Jacob do?" Bella asked suspiciously. The others looked around and Jacob just looked nervous. "Serenity,"—dang it!—"What did Jacob do?"

I looked at Jacob and he nodded his head, sighing and hanging it with shame.

"Well, he, uh, tried to…attack…Renesmee…?" my voice squeaked at the end, making it sound like a question.

Her face looked feral and furious. "What?" immediately, Edward grabbed the baby and thrust her into my arms.

"No, Bella, it's ok! She's fine, see? I didn't let him touch her, and do you know why? Because, I swore that over my dead body would I let him lay a harming hand this child, and I meant it. I would never let _anyone_ hurt Renesmee. Okay?" I looked into her eyes and spoke with as much sincerity as I could, telling the complete truth. She gradually relaxed, but still looked a little pissed off.

"Fine, _fine_; I'm not mad at you, Jacob. But if you ever—and I mean ever—hurt her or intend to hurt her, I will kill you!"

"Okay, and over my dead body will you do that to him," I said, stepping in front of Jacob protectively. Bella and I stared each other down.

Finally, she said, "Touché."

I cracked a smile. "Me and Renesmee are best friends, aren't we, Renesmee?" I said in a baby-talk voice.

Renesmee nodded, smiling big enough to show white teeth. I laughed. Bu then I had a sad thought and sobered up. Renesmee noticed and touched my face, replaying the scene and adding a confused and asking taste to it.

"It's just that, our business is done here. We have to go back home again. And you guys have to go to New Hampshire, was it? Yeah, so I won't be able to see you for a long time," I said sadly to Renesmee. She sighed and rested her head against my chest. I laid my head on hers and rocked us back and forth. Already I felt a connection between us, like we were best friends and she was moving away. Actually, that was a lot like this situation.

"Yeah, we'll have to leave," Carlisle murmured.

"I wonder if my dad and Austin know where I am," I murmured to myself.

"They do; Sam told them," Jacob whispered in my ear.

I narrowed my eyes. "Let me guess; he thought they would demand that I come back home so he could tell me I was still in his pack and use me against you?"

Jacob's silence confirmed my suspicions. I sighed. Renesmee patted my cheek; not showing me anything, just a friendly consoling gesture.

"We finished school; we should be applying for college, finding jobs, all that grown up stuff. We should be looking for places to live so we can move out of our parents' house; all kind of things, yet here we are, in the house of a vampire coven as if we're visiting old friends. How much weirder can we get?" I asked Jacob.

"Believe it or not, I think we can get weirder," he said. I smiled and pecked his lips once.

"We should be going…" I was reluctant to leave. I had gotten so used to the Cullens and their house and smell. They really were like old friends to me. And I would miss Renesmee, too. But I had a family to return to; and school to start and finish, and—hopefully—a man to date. We haven't officially dated yet, but I'm hoping he'll ask soon.

They all came and hugged me, but only shook Jacob's hand because of his smell. Renesmee didn't want to let go, but eventually she did when I promised I would call her every day that I didn't see her. We were both reluctant, but we knew we had to do the right thing. Shifting, I ran with Jacob all the way home, passing thoughts to each other.

Seth and Leah already went home yesterday, but we stayed behind to say goodbye to Renesmee and the Cullens. We got to my house and I Shifted into human form. Jacob phased and stopped me before I could climb the tree to jump into my window.

"Hey, um, I wanted to ask you, do you want to, I don't know, maybe go out tomorrow?" he asked.

I grinned and said, "Yeah, `course I do." I stretched up and looped my hands around his neck while he put his hands on my waist. I kissed his lips softly. He kissed me a little more roughly and we pulled back. "Good night," I whispered.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered back. Then, I climbed the tree and hopped into my bedroom. After changing into a pair of sweats and a clean t-shirt, I walked down stairs and was greeted by my brother and father. They didn't mention where I was and I didn't mention it either. It felt good to be back home.

Lying in bed that night, I wondered what Renesmee was doing. I know, I know; I should get over the little girl, but she was my best friend. I missed her a little. Before falling asleep, I remember wishing for some peace for a few months. But a call about a week later told me I'd been foolishly optimistic.

"Hello?"

"Serenity, we need your help; it's about Renesmee."

**A/N: So, what did you think? Remember, if I get two reviews, I update! So please take the time to review on this chapter, of any of my other chapters. Ciao!**

**~Alee B.**


	13. Balance and Unbalance

**Hi! It's me again! Thanks so much to the first two people who reviewed! **_**MusicIsAlwaysThere**_** and **_**Meatballs,**_** you guys are awesome! Thanks so much! So, this is for you two! Oh, and don't worry Meatballs; none of the wolves will imprint on her.**

**Review, please?**

"_**What is it, what happened, is she okay?"**_ I burst into the Cullen's front door and looked around frantically for the little redhead, rushing for her as soon as I saw her.

"Geez, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were her mother," Emmet laughed as I searched Renesmee for even the slightest scratch. He stopped laughing abruptly when I shot him a death glare. He leaned back from me slightly.

Bella and the rest were frozen, and I saw Alice holding a cell phone to her ear. They were all staring at me wide eyed.

"You… I haven't even hung up the phone yet…. How did you get here so fast?" Alice stammered.

I shrugged. "You scared the crap out of me, telling me there was something wrong and that it involved Renesmee. I dropped the phone and then I was here. I must've subconsciously teleported," I mused. They still stared. "So what was this all about? Obviously she's not hurt…"

"The Volturi are after her. Irina saw us while we were hunting and though she was one of the immortal children," Bella explained.

"Okay, back up; first, who are the Volturi? Second, who's Irina, and third, what are the immortal children? Wait, don't answer the third one; I can guess." I lifted Renesmee off the living room floor and carried her on my hip. She started playing with my hair while her mother and father explained.

"So, the Volturi are basically your vampire royalty and law enforcements." Edward nodded. "And Irina is part of another coven with a more… human friendly diet." Again, Edward nodded. "And Irina's mother was killed because of these immortal children, making her want revenge even if it involves her 'extended' family. She's tattling on you to the Volturi, so they're going to come over her and…deal with Renesmee." My voice was coated with anger.

Edward's voice was just as angry. "We're not going to let them. We're going to come up with troops, show them that Renesmee isn't an immortal child, and hope that they will fight with us against the Volturi if it comes to that. Though, we really want them as witnesses. Aro, the leader, can read any and all of your thoughts with one touch. If he touches any of them, he'll know they're telling the truth."

I nodded. And if it came to a trade…I think I'd be willing enough, but I don't think I'd be able to leave Jacob.

"So you called me over as a fighter/witness? I could do that."

Jasper smiled grimly. "We were hoping you would say that. Are you up for a few training lessons?"

I mirrored his grim smile. "I was born ready for anything."

000

"Okay, just keep your focus, fight well, and you'll be fine," Jasper coached me from behind. We were in a huge clearing and Emmet was the last one I had to fight. He grinned lazily at me, as if he were sure he was going to win. I mentally smirked; he was so not going to win.

"Got it." I nodded.

"Go!"

Emmet and I shot towards each other. At the last possible second, I flipped over him and kicked him forward into the ground where he rebounded and came at me again, trying to grab me. I twisted out of his reach and flicked my fingers in a motion that said, _bring it on._

He came at me again, this time faster than before. I sent him a haymaker punch and hit him square in the face. He got my hand and twisted me into a headlock, which I slipped out of immediately. I kept a hand on his forearm and flipped him over on the ground. Then, he flipped us over so that I was on the ground and he was kneeling beside me.

I brought my leg up and flexibly kicked his back with the toe of my boot. He relaxed his hold for a moment, but that second was all I needed. I shot up and twisted his arm around his back. Then, like I did for the other vampire, I stepped on his back with my boot and forced him to the ground. I didn't rip his arm of, though; I just held him on the ground without any effort at all.

"I win," I whispered into his ear. Laughing, I let him up. He dusted himself off and glared at me, making me laugh harder. I looked at the setting sun; the sky was painted a mixture of pink and gray, the sun painting the clouds.

"You're free to go home, Serenity. Emmett was the last one, after all," Jasper said. I nodded and went over to where Bella stood holding Renesmee. Renesmee smiled when she saw me heading toward her and leaned in my direction, signaling that she wanted me to carry her. Bella handed her over to me and I bounced her a little on my hip.

"This'll all be over soon, don't you worry. You'll be safe, and I'll continue to call you like I do every night. Anyways, I gotta go home. Jacob will—oh no, Jacob! I forgot to tell him I was here! He must be worried sick!" I shouted. Kissing her forehead, I handed Renesmee back to her mother and teleported out of there.

Appearing in my bedroom, I was frazzled. I picked up my cell phone from the floor, and checked for missed calls and messages.

**13 missed calls and 7 text messages.**

I swore under my breath. Then, I dialed Jacob's cell number. Crossing my fingers and hoping he wouldn't be mad, I waited for him to pick up. On the third ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?" said the husky voice I knew so well on the other end.

"Hi, baby…" I said uncertainly.

"Serenity? Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for you all day!" Jacob shouted into the phone.

"I know, and I'm so incredibly sorry, it's just that I was at the Cullen's house because they said they needed my help and it occurred to me too late that you were probably looking for me. I'm so sorry, babe. Can you forgive me?" I pleaded. I wouldn't be able to bear it if he decided not to forgive me. And I'm not just being melodramatic here.

I heard him sigh on the other end. "Fine, I forgive you. Just don't scare me like that again, please. And call me when you go somewhere without me. Didn't you take your cell with you?"

"No, they scared me because they said something was wrong with Renesmee. I dropped it and appeared at their house," I explained, relieved that he had forgiven me.

He didn't say anything and I realized he'd just nodded. "You know I can't see you through the phone, right? I can't see you when you nod, you big goof," I told him, chuckling.

He laughed, too. "Sorry; bad habit. So you ready to go to sleep?" he asked me.

"Yeah, I'm gonna hit the sack right now. Why?" I was confused by his question, and it was evident in my voice.

"No reason." His tone suggested that I'd find out why later.

I let it slide and said, "Good night, babe."

I could hear the smile in his voice. "Good night to you too."

I hesitated, but just said the words anyway. "I love you."

I was rewarded with a pause on the other end of the line. I panicked and quickly said, "You don't have to tell me you love me back. I just wanted you to know, you know?" Jacob interrupted my rambling before it could get to a full rant.

"I love you, too, Serenity. Never forget that. You are everything to me, and you are the only one that holds my heart. I love you."

Heat that wasn't entirely unfamiliar and uncomfortable warmed my heart and body. "You are my heart, my soul, and my only love. You have my heart and it was only meant for you to hold and keep it safe. You are mine, and I love you with all that I have. With all that I am."

"You're my life, and the very reason for my existence. I would be nothing without you. Goodnight, babe."

"Good night. Love you."

We hung up. I took off my blouse, skinny jeans, and blouse, and traded them for pajama shorts and a thin tank top. I was feeling warmer than usual tonight. Surprise, surprise. I turned out the light and crawled into bed. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face, replaying Jacob's words in my head over and over again.

Sometime in the night, I heard my window open. I didn't worry about who it was, though, because as soon as the thought popped into my head, I felt the bed dip with someone else's weight. An overly warm body lay down under the covers next to me, draping an arm over my waist. I turned around and snuggled into Jacob, putting my arms around his neck and kissing his cheek sleepily.

We were both under the covers and, without thinking, I put my leg over his waist. If he acknowledged its presence, he didn't show it. He just held me tighter and buried his face in my hair. And once again, I drifted to sleep with a blissful smile on my face, this time in Jacob's arms.

0000000

"They're going to be here in _how long_? I should be saying how short! Three days isn't enough time! And if it is, you've convinced me that it isn't. I haven't exactly figured out how, yet, but believe me when I say that I will!" I seethed.

Three weeks ago, I had started applying for different colleges, so far only getting rejected from about two of them. I had also been returning to the Cullens' house daily to train, even though I didn't need training. It had seemed as though I could momentarily forget that the Volturi were coming for Renesmee, just breathing in Jacob's arms and letting go. But of course, I had to wake up from my fantasies to go to training. Jacob joined me since he felt anxious whenever I went there alone. He would watch me and cheer me on, being the ever supportive one.

Bella had only now just thought she should tell me that I had only two weeks to prepare for something that I had no idea how to face without being prepared or braced for bloodshed. By their description, the Volturi seemed to prefer all of their 'meetings' to end that way.

"What are you talking about?" Bella screamed back at me, confused and looking a little scared.

"I don't know!" I screamed, adopting her expression. We broke into laughter after a few counts of complete silence in which everybody stared at us. Everybody else laughed, too. Renesmee walked up to me and tugged on my pant leg, indicating that she wanted to be carried. I picked her up and she immediately started playing with my long hair.

It had grown even longer, going all the way to my knee caps, just at the top of my calves. Renesmee just had some sort of fascination with my hair, always playing with it whenever she had the chance.

"You just love my hair, don't you?" I asked her. She smiled and nodded, continuing to twist, pull, and wave my hair around. I bit back a smile and looked around at them. "So all we have to do is wait? Be prepared and wait for them to come here?"

Bella nodded; it seemed she was the only one answering my questions. Not that I minded; I wanted answers anyways. Three days… what were we going to do for three days? Wait in torturing agony? I wasn't sure I could do it. But I would for Renesmee… but mostly for Jacob. Sam's pack was also coming to the site, to inspect what would happen and to keep the vamps from entering La Push. More wolves had phased, making his pack even bigger.

More vampires from all over the world were coming, too. Friends of the Cullen family, I guess. They were the 'troops' Edwards had mentioned about three weeks ago. They all had a variety of abilities which would come in useful for this occasion if they gave us trouble. Bella had been working to strengthen her own power with another vamp from the Denali coven. She'd gotten the hang of it though, which was good, especially when we had to go in three days.

On a brighter note, Jacob and I have been officially dating almost two months! My stomach fluttered with the familiar Jacob-induced feeling that I got every time I thought about him. Things are both in balance and out of balance. I mean, Alice left the same day she called me, taking Jasper with her, and now the Volturi are coming in less than seventy-two hours. Call me crazy, but I think we're barely hanging by a thread right now between good and bad. If you know what I mean.

Gosh, three days…. How am I supposed to get through that?

00000

"Serenity, wake up."

"Ughnnnn…" I groaned into my pillow. The speaker shook my shoulder gently, and when I didn't stir, shook me even harder. "What?" I shrieked finally.

"Have you forgotten what day it is and what's going to happen at a certain clearing?" Jacob asked me with a hint of condescendence in his voice.

I swore and got out of my bed—well, tumbled sounds more accurate. I grabbed my bag, which was filled with some clothes and my special knives, and teleported with Jacob out of my bedroom.

We appeared in the clearing, where everyone was already getting into position. A soft chuckle from Emmett reminded me that I hadn't changed in my haste to get here. I was still in my long night shirt and pajama shorts. To the side, I saw Bella bringing Renesmee out from a tent and moved over there.

"Can I use this to change in?" I asked Bella. She nodded her consent and I ducked inside. I came out wearing a black camisole, black jeans, and black knee-high boots, some knives sheathed in my belt. The looks I got from the vamps told me they were questioning my clothes; obviously.

"What? I was favoring black this morning," I said defensively. They all shrugged and looked away, settling into their position. Jacob and I parted ways, him going into the woods to phase, me going into my spot among the vampires.

I'd decided to be a witness in this situation. From what Edward and Carlisle had told me, Aro can't read me in my wolf form. So I'd stay human if he decided to call me up. Besides, I had only trained as a human, not a wolf.

Jacob came out of the woods in wolf form. But when he passed his spot, he earned questioning looks from the vamps. He stopped in front of me, and I only had a second to realize what he was going to do before he did it. He _licked_ my _face_ with his _tongue_. I stood frozen and wide eyed for a moment before saying, "Because I love you, I'm not going to kill you later. Ugh, your slobber's sticky!" I laughed out the last part. Jacob barked out a wolf-y chuckle, and then went to his spot.

It was then that I noticed all the wolves were here and readily positioned, watching our little exchange with amusement. Like I said earlier, more wolves had phased, making the pack bigger. There were about seventeen wolves all together in that clearing, not including me. Bella had, of course, dragged Sam and the wolves into this, only by the mention of saying more vamps were going to be in the area.

We all tensed and I felt something in the area that was…off. I guessed it was them. They came into view about two minutes later. All dressed in black robes, it looked more like they were floating instead of walking. Like Alice said they would, they had brought the entire guard with them, many other vamps in the background. Aro's face showed barely concealed eagerness.

They stopped a hundred feet away from us, assessing us carefully one by one. I saw Aro's face fall in disappointment as he saw that Alice was missing. I smirked wryly in spite of our situation. I was behind Bella, who had Renesmee clinging to her back like a monkey, covered by Bella's hair. When I saw all three pairs of their eyes—Marcus's, Caius's, and Aro's—fall on her at the same time, I stepped up and next to Bella, shielding her the best I could without getting in front of her. They all saw this and shared a look.

Carlisle stepped forward and greeted them with a, "Aro, old friend; it's been centuries."

They were silent. The tension built as the silence dragged on for what seemed hours. Then, Aro stepped out of the formation, a female vampire following her as if her hand was stuck to the back of his robe. When a few of the guard leaned towards him, he held up his hand and murmured something that sounded like "peace".

"Awfully fair words, Carlisle, though they feel out of place, considering the army you've assembled to kill me and my dear ones."

Carlisle shook his head and held out his hand. "You only have to touch my hand to know that is not what I intend to do."

Aro narrowed his eyes. "Why would your intent matter compared to what you have done?"

Now it was my turn to narrow my eyes. This guy was really getting on my nerves. His niceness and stuck-up look was infuriating to me. It made me want to either barf on his face, or scratch his eyes out. And mess up his face in the process.

Then the blond one came up. _Caius_, his name was. They were both fighting with Carlisle, pissing me off even more. Caius beckoned to who I can only guess was Irina. She came after some really dazed-looking moments and Caius slapped her. I knew it probably didn't hurt, but it was still really hard to look at. It was like watching somebody kick an injured puppy.

He questioned her, asking her if Renesmee was the same child she saw in the forest. Irina squinted, which was unusual for a vampire since they had excellent vision.

"I…I'm not sure…" she said, sounding confused. Caius looked like he wanted to slap her again. Then Aro stepped in and held out his hand for her to take. She uncertainly placed her hand in his and he held it for all of five seconds. Then, he called for Edward.

Edward kissed both Bella's and Renesmee's cheeks, and then started walking up to Aro. As he passed, the little witch vampire, Jane, smiled at him. And then I felt it.

A surge of power burst from beside me, and I realized that the boundaries between Bella and the full use of her power had been broken. I felt it move all the way around us and Edward, but then it moved off of Edward. It was the smart thing to do, in my opinion, too.

Aro's eyes were astonished when he finished looking into Edward's memory. "You see?" Edward asked his tone calm.

"Yes, indeed I do…so clearly!" Aro said.

"Aro, what is this about?" Caius snapped impatiently.

As Aro explained, Renesmee's hand in my hair suddenly tugged. I looked over and saw Bella moving Renesmee into her arms, cradling her protectively against her chest. I glared at the Volturi. Jane saw this and assessed me with bright red eyes. Her red orbs widened and she zipped to Aro and whispered something in his ear. His expression lit up and so did Caius's, as he'd also heard what Jane had whispered.

"My dear friend Carlisle, it seems you have done something wrong," Aro said in a tone that sounded as if he were talking to a five year old who had lied about pulling someone's hair.

"What would that be, Aro?" Carlisle asked, sounding extremely confused.

"Why, you've brought a human into this! There she is, seemingly protective of the child in a way that would suggest a strong bond," Aro sounded as if he were musing something in his head.

Edward stiffened and I knew he'd heard something bad.

Carlisle stuttered, but Caius beat him to it.

"Bring forth the human; I shall deal with it."

I narrowed my eyes and stiffened, crouching to spring. Jacob growled and crouched, ready to spring. Our movements came in synchronization.

"Come now, human. I will not ask you again."

And against my better judgment, I walked forward briskly. Jacob whined behind me, but I shushed him gently. Stopping a few feet in front of Caius, I glared at him. I put an index finger up.

"Okay, first, I'm not human. Second, my blood isn't safe for your kind. And third, don't judge a book by its cover. I would think you of all people would know that."

Caius looked stunned, then outraged. Before he could do anything though, I felt a searing and excruciating pain erupt in my body. The pain was so intense, my body arched backwards, bending until my head almost touched the grass. I let out a strangled cry/scream, but then, the pain stopped abruptly.

I wasn't the one screaming anymore. It appeared to be Jane instead, but she was only screaming for five seconds. I fell on my back to the floor, my chest heaving with the deep breaths I was taking. Aro, Caius, and even Marcus looked shocked and astonished. I saw something almost greedy in Aro's eyes and I knew he was fascinated by what I had involuntarily done.

It appeared that I had reflected Jane's power and redirected it back to her. At first I thought it had been Bella that had cut it off, but then I heard Jane scream and I knew what had happened.

"Amazing," Aro murmured. "What else can you do?" he asked eagerly. I looked towards Edward from my position on the ground. He nodded to me after a second.

As I relayed my powers and explained them in small detail, Aro's eyes got even greedier and greedier by the second. I decided to stop after telling him about my being a mermaid, wolf, and witch. Not that it helped any.

"Your powers are extraordinary! We would so love it if you joined us…" he looked at me questioningly.

"Serenity." I gave my name curtly.

"Serenity," he said my name as if we were old friends. "We offer you a place within our ranks, you wouldn't be disappointed! What do you say, my dear?"

I looked beyond his shoulder at his audience. He wanted me to become one of them? A mindless zombie, unable to make choices of my own free will? He wanted me to join him in killing innocents?

"I'm sorry, Aro, but I must decline this…generous offer. My place is here, as it always will be," I told him sincerely.

He looked disappointed, but tried his best to cover it up. "Very well," he said reluctantly. "But will you give it more though, dear Serenity?"

I nodded just to make him leave me alone. Satisfied with my answer, he smiled. Then he said, "I would like to see if my power works on you as well. May I?" He held his hand out.

I reluctantly placed my hand in his. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Then, he opened his eyes and I saw frustration in them.

"Hmm," he murmured, "I see nothing."

Well, this just got better and better.

**Okay, I stop here! I had to stop somewhere, or I would've kept going and I wouldn't have given you this chapter on time. Sorry, it's a little late! I've been re-writing it for some reason. Anyway, I've also been thinking about doing a little 'outtake' thing for this story. I want to put more p.o.v.s in here, and the only reason I didn't was because I was determined to make this all in one p.o.v. Tell me what you think in a review! I want to know what you think! Oh and about that contest I'm holding—details are on my profile under my BFIS info—I'm not sure I'm leaving enough hints. Should I leave more? Review to tell me! **

**Once again, if I get two reviews, I will update! ;)**

**I don't own Twilight.**

**Please review! Ciao!**

**~Alee B.**


	14. Resolutions and Happy momentssorta :D

**Hello, beautiful wonderful people! I swear, every time one of you writes a review for my stories, I smile deliriously. I would like to thank**_** lovesong101, Anna, HighQueenDofNarnia, **_**and**_** Stargazer1364**_**—whom I am very glad to see has finally come back—for reviewing on the fourteenth chapter! Woo hoo; you guys have given my story 34 reviews! That is way more than I ever hoped for! I love you guys so so much, without you, this story wouldn't even have made it this far. BTW, I have started a new story for the **_**Hush, Hush Saga**_**, so if you have read all three books and are waiting until next year when Becca gives us the last book, hop on over and give it a try! And even if you haven't read the books, I still want you guys to read it. XD ok, you can read now.**

**Please review!**

"Now, Edward may I please meet your daughter?" Aro pleaded to Edward. I stiffened. The thought of Renesmee coming up to meet that monster… ugh, it made me want to shudder. After a few seconds, Edward relented, knowing he had to. I had already resumed to my spot beside Bella and Renesmee, when Edward told her to choose two friends to come with them.

"Emmett and… Serenity," Bella said quietly. I was grateful that she'd chosen me because I wasn't exactly sure I'd be able to stand still through it all without getting restless. I walked beside them, keeping my expression blank, yet slightly hostile. When Aro wanted Renesmee's hand, she did something that put all the vampires on Aro's side on edge. She reached out and touched his face to show him what she wanted.

She leaned back after a few seconds and said in her tiny twinkling voice, "Please?"

"Of course, young one. I have no intentions of harming you or your loved ones," Aro said sweetly. But I knew it was a lie, and behind me, the vampire that could hear lies hissed, which only confirmed what I already knew.

Eventually, we were allowed to go back to our spots on the field. But that was when Aro and the others started talking about killing Renesmee. I let out a low growl that I'm sure everybody heard anyway.

"There is simply not enough information that we have to let Renesmee live! And what a shame to have to destroy something we could have learned so much from," Aro said, as if he were truly saddened at the fact.

"What about the informant?" Caius hissed. The entire time, I had almost forgotten about Irina, having been worried about Renesmee.

Irina hung her head in shame. "I take full responsibility for the mistake that I have made. The Cullens are innocent. There is no broken rule or law. They have done nothing wrong—,"

But before she could finish, Caius flicked his hand to some of the hooded figures and they swooped in, grabbing her from all sides. They all _tore her apar_t, and threw her pieces in a pile on the ground. Caius stepped forward and lit the pile of dismembered pieces on fire.

"Now she has taken full responsibility," Caius said, smiling wickedly. Rage flowed through me toward Caius for killing yet another innocent, and I knew I had to control it before I turned wolf. But then, I saw Irina's sisters out of the corner of my eye. They screamed and ran forward, but Carlisle got to one of them in time. The nomad that got the other sister wasn't so lucky. Kate had the gift that was painful to both humans and vampires, alike. She could shock them with a single touch of her hand or project it to her entire body.

The nomad was shocked continuously until Bella moved her barrier over him a little more, protecting him from getting shocked again. His arms were wrapped around Kate's waist like a vise and she finally gave up struggling and went limp in his arms. Aro, Caius, and Marcus watched this with shocked expressions.

"Ahem, like I was saying, if we had more information about what to expect as Renesmee got older, we would be delighted to let her live," Aro continued as if nothing had happened.

The three brothers turned and held hands, communicating silently. Bella was already in action, peeling Renesmee gently off of her. They whispered words to each other and I knew from the tears in Renesmee's eyes that this was goodbye. The thought made my stomach drop and my breathing hitch. Bella handed her to Edward to say goodbye and whispered in Jacob's ear, "When they're distracted, run with her. Both you and Serenity take her and run as far away from here as you can. She has what you need to get you out of here and into the air."

I walked over to Jacob and leaned my forehead against his nose. He nudged me gently and licked my face again, though this time I didn't mind.

"Man, Jacob, I've been foolishly optimistic in thinking we could make it through this alive," I gave a laugh that was thick with tears. "I thought maybe we'd all get through this and maybe you and I, we'd get married and live in a big house with a fancy garden, and everything. The whole nine yards. But I guess things don't always turn out how you planned, or how you wanted it to. I love you; I always have and always will."

Jacob whined softly as a few tears spilled down my cheeks. I kissed his nose again and went to where Renesmee was sitting perched on his back. I kissed her forehead and went around Jacob, back to my spot. All around, I heard murmurs of I love you's and goodbyes.

"Bella…" she looked at me, her eyes showing surprise. "I know we've had our differences and junk, but along the way that I've been with you and Renesmee and Edward… I've gotten to see past that and now I see how much of a friend you really are to me. Please, try to make it through this, if not for me, then for Renesmee." I hugged her and she hugged me back. We parted, me wiping tears from my eyes, her sniffling with the tears she could never shed.

"You and Jacob are the only ones I would ever trust her with. If you didn't love her so much, I wouldn't be able to bear this, Serenity," Bella said.

"You too, Edward." I hugged him as well, and he hugged me back, too. I looked back at Jacob and saw a tear the size of a baseball roll down the side of his face in the fur beneath his eye.

"I love you," I whispered.

Then, all of a sudden Edward shouted, "Yes!" He looked like he'd won the lottery or something. It must be official then; he's gone off the edge, lost his marbles and then some. But wait a minute… I think I'm just missing a mind conversation. And I am sensing a familiar presence… oh my gosh, it's—

"Well, then, why don't you join us, Alice?" Edward said. And then the little pixie waltzed right in gracefully, clinging to the hand of Jasper. Trailing behind her were two other people whom I have never seen before. Could they be witnesses, too? But the man looks human… ugh, face palm. Of course! He's just like Renesmee.

"Alice," breathed Aro. He was smiling and I could see the greed in his eyes come back. "So, what must become of these two guests you brought to join us, dear Alice?"

"They are here to present their story to you to show you that while Renesmee is unique, she is not one of a kind. This is Huilen and her nephew, Nahule," Alice said in her wind chime voice. She beckoned the woman beside her forward and the woman looked down shyly. Her name wasn't familiar to me, at least not in any way that I'd remember. She then began telling her story, and the last parts really got my attention.

"My sister, Pire, was carrying the child of a monster of our tribe legends. I told her she shouldn't have trusted him, but she didn't listen. I knew that if she stepped even one foot in the village, they would know what had happened and kill both her and her unborn child," she looked towards the man briefly and then continued. "She begged me not to make her go or tell anyone and because she was my sister, I did as she asked. I ran away with her out of the village and into more secluded areas.

"Her appetite changed and she began drinking the blood of animals and eating them raw. I tried my best to provide for us both, hunting when her strength failed her. Soon, the child was strong enough to break her bones. But she loved him still. She named him after the jungle cat, even after he broke her bones and bruised her skin. When she gave birth, he was tore his way out of her and before her death, she begged me to care for her child.

"I agreed to her wish; her death wish. When I tried to pick up the child, he bit me and I was changed. When I woke up, there he was, curled up into my side, sleeping. I hunted for him until he could hunt for himself. This is the farthest we've been from our home, but Nahule wanted to see the child that was here," she concluded.

"You are one hundred and fifty years old, Nahule?" Aro asked him.

"Just about," he shrugged.

"What age did you reach maturity?"

"Seven years after my birth, I was full grown, more or less."

"What about your diet?" Aro asked, seemingly interested.

"Some human food, though mostly blood. I am able to survive on either one," Nahule answered.

"You were able to create one of us?" Aro pressed.

"Yes, but none of the others can."

Aro stiffened and raised his eye brows. "Others?"

"My sisters." Again, Nahule shrugged.

"Tell us the rest of the story, since there seems to be more."

Nahule frowned, but did what he was told. "My father looked for me a few years after my mother's death. He was happy to find me." His tone suggested he hadn't felt the same way. "He already had two other daughters, but no sons. He had expected me to join him like my sisters had.

"He was shocked and surprised to find that I wasn't alone. My sisters aren't venomous, but whether that's by chance or gender, I don't know. My family was already complete with Huilen, so I was not interested in joining him. I still see him from time to time. I also have a new sister; she reached full maturity about ten years ago."

"What is your father's name?" Caius asked through gritted teeth.

"Joham," Nahule answered. "He thinks himself a scientist. He believes he's creating a super-race." He didn't try disguising the disgust in his voice. I didn't blame him.

Caius looked at Bella. "Is your daughter venomous?" he snapped.

"No," Bella answered right away.

"There is no danger here, brother. While this appears to be an unusual case, I see no threat. These half vampire children seem to be like us, so it seems," Aro said softly.

"And that is your vote?" Caius demanded in a growl.

"Yes, it is."

"And Joham? The immortal that is seemingly fond of experimentation?"

"Well, maybe we _should_ have a word with him," Aro mused.

"Stop Joham if you want," Nahule said in a flat voice. "But leave my sisters alone; they are innocent."

Aro nodded and turned to his guard/audience. "We do not fight today, dear ones," he said.

They all straightened out of their positions, but we didn't. For all we knew, it could be another trick. Aro held out his hands to us apologetically.

"Oh, how glad I am that this was resolved without violence," he said in a sweet voice. "Carlisle, my friend—how pleased it makes me to call you friend again! I hope there aren't any hard feelings; I know you understand the burden that hangs over our shoulders because of our duties."

"Leave in peace, Aro" Carlisle said, sounding stiff. Gee, I wonder why. Note the sarcasm. "Please remember that we have our anonymity to defend here, and don't allow your guard to feed here in the area."

"Of course," Aro assured him. "I am so sorry to have earned your disapproval, dear friend. Perhaps, in time, you will forgive me."

"Perhaps, in time, if you prove to us a friend again."

Aro hung his head in shame and left with his guard. We were still tense even after they were long gone out of sight. I felt the immediate- danger- feeling leave my body like air passing over me, making me feel fresh and light. I looked around and saw the rest of the vamps looking around as well. The wolves were sniffing the air or scanning the forest.

"I think it's over…" I said.

Edward's smile was huge. "Yes, they've given up. Just like all bullies, they're cowards underneath the bravado and swagger."

Alice laughed along with him. "Seriously people, they aren't going to come back. You can all relax, now."

There was another long moment of silence.

"Well, of all the rotten luck," one of the vampires, Stefan, muttered. And that did it.

Cheers and deafening howls erupted in the clearing. Vampires were hugging, congratulating, kissing, and laughing. But I wasn't paying any attention to any of that. Right at that moment, the only thing I could concentrate was a certain horse-sized russet wolf. I leaped on his back, which Renesmee had been taken off of, and hugged his neck from behind. I climbed off and told him to go phase back.

When he appeared back out of the trees, he kissed me with a passion that threatened to swallow me whole. The depth of my response unnerved me, but I didn't care. All I cared about was the man that was presently holding me to him as if I would be taken away if he let go. Not that I minded in any way. Tears of joy streamed down my face and Jacob kissed them away, making me laugh a little.

I kissed him again and we finally became aware of the world around us. Everyone was waiting for us to finish so we could all go back to the house. They laughed at our bewildered expressions, but I was too far gone in happiness to be embarrassed. And catching the expression on Jacob's face as we laughed with them, I knew he felt the same.

0000000

"So they were all afraid of Bella?"

"Yes, they've never been in a situation where they were the ones with the disadvantage, and the other side had the advantage."

We were all sitting in the Cullen's living room, relaxed and calm. It was only a few hours after the scene in the clearing, but it was still so real and vivid in my mind. Alice had just explained what she'd done in all that time that she'd been away. How she had to search blindly for Nahule and Huilen, and how she sent all the other witnesses over here.

"Aro was fascinated by your powers, Serenity. I was surprised he didn't just offer a trade: Take you in exchange for peace on the subject," Edward continued. I shuddered and Jacob hugged me tighter from where I sat on his lap. I leaned my face into the crook of his neck and breathed in his earthy scent, which put me right at ease.

"At least he didn't, though," I murmured. I was suddenly sleepy and tired, feeling the energy drain out of me like water running from a faucet. I had to struggle to keep my eyes open. Renesmee was already fast asleep on Bella's lap. Bella was sitting next to Edward, his arm around her and Alice, who was sitting on his other side. Jasper was also sitting beside Alice, her hand clasped tightly in his.

I yawned, and Jacob chuckled. "Regretting those nights of training, yet?" he asked me playfully.

I smiled and shook my head. "Nope, not at all. It was worth it; especially for an outcome like this." I gestured to the others sitting on the couch or standing next to them. We were all smiles, the tension having melted from our faces and postures. We'd gone around carrying it for weeks, not realizing that we even had it. Now, we were free from it and could breathe better. At least, I could.

I felt amazingly five pounds lighter. Err, something like that anyway. I patted Jacob's knee, signaling that I wanted to go home. We said our goodnights and goodbyes. I kissed Renesmee's cheek gently so that I wouldn't wake her, and hugged Bella with one arm. As we walked to the front door, I sagged against Jacob. He looked at me weirdly and raised his eyebrows.

In response, I held my arms out to him, hung my head back sleepily, and said, "Carry me, please."

His incredulous expression made me giggle, but I was too tired to laugh full out. I stepped forward and locked my arms around his neck. Kissing his cheek, I said, "Pleeeeease?"

He sighed, but smiled. Jacob picked me up from my legs and my waist, my arms still locked around his neck. He kissed my forehead and murmured for me to go to sleep. As much as I didn't want to, my body began drift off to sleep, taking me under the thick blanket that was sleep.

000000

I was rustled awake when someone set me down on my bed. I propped myself up on my elbows, looking around through slit-eyes. I was in my bedroom and it was dark. A dark figure loomed over me, but I already knew it was Jacob. He was turning toward the window, moving to open it, but I called his name out, making him stop and turn towards me.

"Stay with me," I pleaded. He sighed softly, as if thinking about it, but then came over to the bed, lifting me and tucking me under the covers. Jacob got under the covers with me, putting his arms around me and kissing my hair. I sighed contentedly and snuggled deeper into him.

"Love you," I whispered.

"Love you back," Jacob whispered back to me. Fifteen minutes later, he was snoring softly. This entire thing had worn him out, too. I stayed awake a little longer, thinking things over a bit. We had come very close to losing, there in the field. It made me realize many things, the main thing, how much I really and truly love Jacob. And that I have overcome my foolish jealousies and insecurities and have found that I actually care for Bella and Edward. Not very much, I'll admit, but at least there's some there.

And that I actually hadn't been foolishly optimistic; I'd just seen the Brightside of our situation and believed that it would work out. Okay, so I guess that's the same thing, but whatever. I had told Jacob exactly what I had hoped for: A future together, where we have each other and are happy. It makes me wake up with a smile on my face to think about it.

I just hope we have at least a few weeks—preferably months—of peace for a while. It would be nice, very nice.

And with that thought, I fell into a much needed sleep.

**A/N: So, what do you guys think? Once again, I love you all and I couldn't have made it this far without you guys! Please review! Oh, and I think I'm just going to tell you guys what she is. I have so many flashes of ideas on how to tell you! Don't forget, please vote on my poll as well! **

**I still don't own Twilight.**

**Ciao!**

**~Alee B. Love y'all! **


	15. PLEASE READ AN FIRST!

**Hey, I'm back! Thanks to everyone that reviewed for the other chapter! Now, I am so very sad to say that the ending of Jacob and Serenity's journey is very, very near. However, if I get enough reviews saying they want a SEQUEL then I will gladly see what I can do! (PLEASE REVIEW FOR A SEQUEL, IF YOU WANT ONE) Ah, yes, I have very many great ideas for a sequel, but you have to want it! So, read on and REVIEW! **

**PLEASE REVIEW IF YOU WANT A SEQUEL. (Just spreading the word and making sure everyone sees it, XD)**

**Read on! But read the A/N first.**

_(Three Months Later…)_

"_You, my dear, are an Ever Child of the Second Generation. That means that you are the most powerful of all your ancestors and their generations. The name in itself is just to sound fancy; there is no official tittle for what we are. Really, it is only the first part that you need to hear, I just like adding the 'Second Generation' for fun, as it sounds even more powerful. _

"_All second born children—well, adults now, I suppose—have a power that is unique in itself. It makes us a force to be reckoned with. Many have tried to steal our power, and when they realize that they can't, they try to kill us. You must be careful, Serenity. I don't want to lose my favorite granddaughter." My grandfather winked and smiled at me, but his eyes were serious._

_I nodded, feeling like a child again, the way he used to hold me on his lap and tell me stories that made me want to be like the heroes or heroines. It's been so long since I'd seen my grandfather; I hadn't seen him since the Christmas of the last two years. _

"_I'm running out of time. I won't be able to tell you anything more, but I want you to be very careful, Serenity. I think word of your powers is spreading in the supernatural world of our kind. I love you, my granddaughter. Please take care of yourself and send your brother and father my love and hello." He blew me a kiss and started to fade away…_

I shifted in my bed. My eyes popped open as I felt the space beside me empty where Jacob usually slept. The sheets were cold, as if he'd been gone for hours.

"SURPRISE!" My head whipped around to the doorway of my room, my eyes widening as I saw my dad, brother, and boyfriend holding a cake with lit candles on top. I smiled and sat up in bed.

"Happy birthday, Serenity!" I laughed with joy, and made room for them to sit on my full sized bed. Dad set the cake on my lap carefully and stepped back to take a picture with mom's old camera. The sight of the camera was surprising enough, but the sight of _my dad_ holding the camera was a little shocking. But I didn't want to ruin the happy mood, so I just smiled for a picture and didn't say a word.

"Thank you guys! Oh my gosh, I think I actually forgot today was my birthday!" I laughed and they laughed with me.

"Well, it's a good thing we all remembered this time, then," Jacob said, coming around the other side of the bed to kiss me.

"Okay, enough of the PDA, just blow out your candles before the completely melt all over the cake," Austin said, closing his eyes and wrinkling his nose at the sight of Jacob and me kissing.

We chuckled, though I suspected Dad had taken a picture of our kiss. It was something I was sure mom would do, especially if it was my birthday and he was my boyfriend in my house in the morning when I was still in bed in my pajamas, which only consisted of a tank top and some pajama shorts.

I closed my eyes, made a quick wish of nothing in particular, and blew out the candles in one sharp blow. They clapped, and I was suddenly reminded of when I was five at my sixth birthday party and blowing out the candles. My mom always clapped the hardest and the longest.

"Okay, birthday girl, get dressed in something pretty, because we're going to Emily and Sam's house to celebrate your eighteenth birthday!" Austin said, walking towards the door to leave.

I jumped out of bed and walked directly to my closet, opening the door and looking inside. I pulled out a knee length white dress with a string to tie around my neck to keep it up. Then, I grabbed a pair of tan strappy sandals from the closet floor and turned to lay them on the mattress.

I was about to lift my shirt up and off all the way, but stopped mid-way when I saw that Jacob hadn't left yet. I yanked my shirt back down and walked over to him, my face getting hotter and redder by the second.

"Jacob! Why didn't you say anything? I was about to change here!" I said, crossing my arms and glaring up at him.

"I think that's why," he replied with a small grin. I tried not to smile, but it was hard. I turned his around and pushed him towards the door.

"Out, right now. I need to change! By the way, what time is it?" Jacob was already out of my room on the other side of the door.

"It's almost two, why?"

"Two in the afternoon? I slept for that long? Dang, I must've been tired. Well, wait for me downstairs, I won't take long," I said, closing the door in his face.

The dress slipped over my head, and I tied the knot at the nape of my neck tightly so that it wouldn't fall off. The shoes were comfortable and matched with the dress, which had some patterns on the bodice and ends of it of the same color of the straps of the sandals. I walked into the bathroom to brush my hair, which was curly today.

I walked down the stairs to meet the boys. "I'm done," I said when I saw them in the kitchen. They all turned and their jaws dropped at the same time. My eyebrows furrowed in concern as they tried to compose themselves.

"You look gorgeous, Serenity," Jacob said in an awed voice. I smiled and looked down to hide the blush that I could feel creeping across my cheeks.

"Ahem, well let's go," Austin was already walking to the door. Jacob came up beside me and held his arm out to me. I took it with a smile and let his lead me out to the car. We didn't do anything, not with my dad and Austin in the car with us and watching our every move in the rear view mirrors. I just looked out the windows of Austin's Volvo, enjoying the cloudless sky with the shining sun. An unusual afternoon for a day in March. Not that I minded at all.

When we parked in front of Emily and Sam's house, I could already hear Emily bustling around in the kitchen, the boys horse-playing around in the living room, and even though she wasn't doing anything, Leah. I climbed out of the car with Jacob and my family in tow. The front door was wide open, sending the message; _you are welcome to come in._

I knocked on the doorjamb nonetheless before walking in. the boys immediately stopped wrestling or whatever they were doing, and rushed to hug me. Many bear hugs later, I walked into the kitchen and hugged Emily, also snagging some sort of sauce from a pan on the counter beside the stove. It was good, and totally worth the smack she gave my hand with her wooden spoon.

Leah was actually happy to see me. She was wearing a dress, which shocked me, and her short hair had a few barrettes in it. She didn't have make-up on, but she didn't need it anyway. We hugged a little, and I got down to the introductions.

I introduced them to the guys first, but when I introduced them to Leah, something happened.

"Austin, this is Leah, Seth's older sister," I said, pointing her out. They shook hands, but when Austin looked into Leah's eyes and she looked into his, they couldn't look away. The hard scowl she usually sported melted off her face and she looked like she a blind woman seeing the sun for the first time.

"LEAH!" I shouted. She broke away from their trance and looked at me. Her face showed a little fear.

"Outside, now." My tone suggested there was no room for argument. I stalked out the back door and she shuffled behind me. I ignored the bewildered looks from everyone inside. When we were in the back yard, out of my brother's earshot, I turned to face Leah.

"I can't believe you imprinted on my brother!" I squealed happily. Leah's face was pure confusion.

"You're not mad? It doesn't bother you? You're okay with it?" Leah asked, uncertainly.

I nodded. "I'm so happy for both of you! Austin hasn't dated anyone in a really long time. And I don't know about you, but I'm happy you imprinted. No more mystery, you know?"

We hugged and jumped up and down like little kids. We finally went back inside, and just smiled at the questioning looks that were thrown our way. We all sat down and relaxed in the living room, talking about nothing in particular and joking around. I sat in Jacob's lap, and I noticed that Leah sat close to Austin, their arms touching ever so slightly. I nuzzled Jacob's neck affectionately, and sighed happily.

My entire family was here, whether it was of blood relation or not. Well, almost my entire family. Some others were missing, but that was okay. I still had a lot of people that I loved and loved me. That was what mattered most, right?

When we had come through the door, Sam had closed it. But now, there was a knock that made everybody freeze and stop talking. The only sounds in the room were the TV and the timer ticking in the kitchen. I sent a quizzical look to Sam and my dad, but they shrugged at me. So I got up off of Jacob's lap and walked over to the door. Opening it, I was unprepared for who was on the other side.

"Uncle Ian! Grandfather! I can't believe you guys are here!" I tackled my uncle in a hug and he laughed his infectious laugh. Then I hugged my Grandfather, considerably less hard than I did for my uncle. He hugged me tight, laughing and rubbing my back softly.

"It's been too long, my dear; I just had to see you! Especially since you are turning eighteen this year!" my grandfather said. I ushered them inside the house and introduced them to the guys and the girls.

My grandfather looked just like he did in my dream, except different clothes. His once black hair had specks of gray in it, but not too much, and his face was a web of wrinkles, but he looked young nonetheless. It was unexplainable how he looked young; he just did.

"Grandpa!" Austin got up from the couch and went to hug our grandfather.

Grandfather smacked Austin on the back of his head. "It's Grandfather, young man, _Grandfather._ I'm no 'grandpa'."

I laughed at Austin, and went to sit down on Jacob's lap again. Austin stuck his tongue out at me childishly. Grandfather rolled his eyes, but he smiled at me nonetheless. "Happy birthday, Serenity. I brought you something very special; something that I have no doubt will be of special meaning to you."

I raised an eyebrow questioningly at him, but he shook his head, a twinkle of amusement in his eye. I pursed my lips, pondering what it could be.

"Food's ready, everyone! Wait, stop, _HOLD IT!" _Emily shouted. The boys—except Jacob—froze in their tracks on the way to the kitchen. "Let the birthday girl go first! And of course, it's ladies first as well. Be courteous, or no food at all for you."

They backed away at her threat, and I got up to get my food. I stacked mashed potatoes, fried chicken, bread rolls, and some vegetables on my plate and grabbed a cup of cherry Coke. I stepped to the side with Emily and Leah, who had already gotten their food, to watch the boys attack the trays of food.

I smiled affectionately at my family and ate my food. We all teased the boys about how much they ate, and how it was a wonder that none of them were chubby or chunky.

"Well, except for Quil," Leah muttered, a small smile on her lips. We all laughed as Quil jutted out his lip in a sorry attempt to make a sad face. My smile never really left my lips, even when there was nothing funny or really anything in particular going on. I was just really happy.

My father had brought my cake from this morning and lit new and non-melted candles on it. Everyone sang happy birthday to me, and I blew out the candles. I cut the cake and handed pieces out on plates. It was chocolate, my favorite. When we were finished with our cake, we all went into the living room for presents.

Grandfather went first. "Well, since I am the oldest person in the room, and haven't seen my favorite granddaughter in a little over two years, I will give her the special present."

And so saying, he grabbed a small box out of his back pocket. "Dear, this belonged to your great grandmother; _my _mother. I gave this to your mother on her eighteenth birthday as well. When she passed, it was written in her will that I was to get this back, and give it to you on your eighteenth birthday, just like her. Happy birthday, Serenity."

He opened the box, revealing what was inside. Nestled between a soft-looking fabric, was a locket. It was heart-shaped and had an inscription in its front. I recognized the writing as Latin. My mom had taught me Latin when I could talk. I learned Spanish, Latin, French, and Japanese before I learned English.

Grandfather lifted the locket out of the box and unclasped it. He motioned towards me, and I swept my hair aside so he could clasp it around my neck. I was holding back tears, but they weren't bad, or even sad. They were… I can't even explain it. I was just emotional.

"Thank you, Grandfather. You have no idea how much this means to me," I sniffed, turning to hug him. He hugged me back, rubbing my back soothingly and knowingly.

"Me next," Dad said. He had a box in his hand too, bigger, but not too big. It was wrapped in colorful paper with a small bow on top. "My gift is also from your mother. She left a music box, and while she didn't say to do anything with it, I decided she would have wanted you to have it. Happy birthday, baby; I'm proud of you."

He gave me the box and I carefully tore through the paper. Opening the cardboard box, I smiled at what I found inside. Inside the box was a small, round music box. I had seen it multiple times when I was littler and the music had always calmed me down when I was upset. I hugged my dad tightly. "Thanks daddy."

Austin was next. His gift was something he made for me, something that I was sure took a lot of time to make. It was a CD that was labeled, _our memories in videos and pictures. _I put it in the CD player to watch in the living room, and sat down on Jacob's lap to watch it.

The screen went from blue to showing a large room. My bedroom from a really long time ago. About eighteen years ago to be exact. My dad appeared to be holding the camera because I could hear him, but I couldn't see him. My mother came into view, standing in front of a brown and pink crib, holding a newborn infant in her arms. Me.

She was shushing me and gently rocking me back and forth, a small smile playing on her lips as I yawned. She started humming the tune from the music box, and I saw my eyes close and a soft snore started emitting from my mouth. My hair looked absolutely burgundy there as a baby. My mother's hair did too, but hers was way darker, almost completely dark brown.

"There, she's asleep. Now, let's go before she wakes up," my mom whispered. She started coming up to my dad, but then a large crash in the corner of the room caught both mom's attention and the camera's attention.

A small version of Austin was kneeling on the floor with a jack-in-the-box toy on the floor beside him. His expression was guilty, but it turned even guiltier when crying was heard from the direction of the crib. My mom smiled and shook her head, turning to the crib to tend to me.

That was one of the greatest things about my mom. No matter what you did, she never got mad at you. Sure she got annoyed, but never mad. It made growing up way easier for me, Austin, and even dad.

The scene changed, and it looked like a few years had passed by, because I was no longer as tiny, and I had more hair. It was still the same color, but just a little darker. In this video, I was on my stomach on the floor, and it looked like I was straining to keep my head up. I reached out one tiny hand, and pulled myself up, scooting on the floor. I reached out with my other tiny hand, and pushed up with both of them.

I was in a crawling position, and my mom was on all fours beside me, hovering to make sure I wouldn't fall and hurt myself. But she didn't need to. With a certainty I didn't know I had at that age, I just…crawled. I crawled like I'd been doing it my whole life long, which probably wasn't very long, back then.

"And you said she just started yesterday, Serena?" I heard my dad ask from behind the camera. My mom looked up with an excited and happy smile on her face and nodded. The video stopped, but some pictures popped up. A few pictures of my mom holding me and smiling. Some with me and my dad, in the same position. Even some with Austin carrying me, and one where he was holding me as if I were flying, like superman.

Then the next video started. This one was one that I vaguely remembered happening. In the video, I was holding the phone to my ear, and I was about three or four years old. I was nodding and "uh-huh"ing as if I were really talking to someone. I was sitting on my parents' bed in their room, and the person with the camera was sitting in the corner. I noticed the camera shaking slightly, indicating that whoever was holding it was laughing.

My dad walked in the room, but stopped abruptly when he saw that I was holding _his cell phone _to my ear and speaking into it. He flitted a questioning look at my mother, who was the person holding the camera, and came over to take the phone away from me. But I already knew that he was going to do that. I said, "Bye-bye," into the phone, and snapped it shut.

My dad took the phone, checked to see who I was calling, and blanched. That was too much for my mom. The camera shook so bad that you couldn't see, and you could hear her cracking up in the background. Finally, the camera steadied, and I could see myself beaming innocently at my dad's disbelieving face.

"How did she get my mother's number?"

And mom cracked up once again. "I…don't…know…!" she choked out between fits of laughter.

Then more photos lit up the screen. Me in a pink dress holding a basket filled with eggs. Me in a red Christmas style dress with my brother behind me in a blue dress shirt and tie. Then the entire family in a picture outside in what looked like the summer.

Several videos and pictures later, I was laughing and crying at the same time. I was so witty and clever back then, just like right now. And it was nice to see my mom again, even if she wasn't really here with me. The next present was from Leah. She had gotten me a pretty dress that was black with some lace in the bodice and had dark red patterns beneath the lace.

"Thanks, Leah," I said, hugging her.

"You're welcome, Serenity," Leah hugged me back.

Then the next present came from my Uncle Ian. It was a leather-bound journal. He said it was for keeping track of important things in my life. "Completely different from a diary," Uncle Ian said, wrinkling his nose at the word diary. I laughed and hugged him as a thank you.

The next one came from Sam and Emily. It was a bag full of clothes; very cute clothes. Shirts and jeans, and even a pair of high heels were in the bag.

"Oh, now these are _cute!_" I said, holding up the heels. I smiled and laughed, getting up to hug them both. "Let me guess; Sam picked these?" I said as I hugged Sam. He blushed and scratched the back of his neck.

"Well…" he trailed off sheepishly. My eyes widened, and I laughed long and hard, along with everyone else in the room. We finally stopped laughing, but Quil laughed so hard he snorted, which only threw us into even more hysterics.

Eventually, we did stop, though we were all wiping tears from our eyes. Even Grandfather was, though he seldom laughed that hard. Quil, Jared, and Paul gave me their present, which they had all paid for. It was another knife, one that had an inscription on it in a fancy font.

_Serenity D. White_

_Jacob Black_

I smiled at them, and came over to give them each a hug.

"Thanks you guys, this was really nice. I love it!"

"You're welcome, Renity. Just like last year, I have completed my mission," Quil said, a cocky grin taking over his face.

"Hey!" Paul and Jared glared at Quil, effectively wiping the grin off his face. I laughed.

Claire gave me her present next. She had drawn me a picture of Jacob and me in a meadow. The sun was shining and we were smiling, holding hands. For a three year old, the drawing was pretty good.

"Thanks, Claire bear!" I said, lifting her into my arms and kissing her forehead. She giggled, and I handed her back to Quil.

"You wecom!" she beamed at me.

Seth, Collin, and Brady all got me a CD from a band I'd heard on the radio and said I'd liked. I was surprised and touched that they'd remembered me saying that. I hugged all of them and kissed their cheeks, making them go red in the face. I chuckled and returned to Jacob's lap.

"Well, that's everyone. Except you, Jacob." I raised my eyebrows expectantly, and warningly. If he forgot, so help me…

He looked nervous, but he didn't say he forgot to get me something. Dad came up behind him and out his hand on Jacob's shoulder. Jacob looked up and dad nodded at him reassuringly. This made me suddenly suspicious. Jacob let out a deep breath. Then he patted my knee, indicating that he wanted me to get up.

I slowly got off his lap, and he stood up with me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door. I stopped and he looked back at me, smiling reassuringly. I went with him, but slower than I normally would have. He took me outside to the car and opened the passenger side for me. I smiled at him and climbed in.

He started the car, and we drove up into the deeper parts of the forest. He stopped at the edge of the woods, and shut off the engine. He opened my door and took my hand. We started walking into the forest and my curiosity got the best of me.

"Where are we going?" I couldn't help but ask. I saw him smile beside me.

"It's a surprise," was all he said. I huffed out a breath, but kept walking. Soon, after about twenty minutes of walking, Jacob covered my eyes. I stiffened, but then I relaxed as he said, "We're almost there, babe. Just a few more minutes of walking."

He walked behind me, guiding me through the woods, clearly knowing where he was going. Five minutes later, we stopped and he uncovered my eyes. I gasped as I took in the scenery before me.

We were standing near a waterfall that fell into a river after flowing into a pond-like pool. I looked around in a 360 degree turn. Everything was green and beautiful, with wild animals rustling in bushes or on trees. Jacob took my hand and nodded towards the waterfall. I nodded eagerly, and we ran towards the end. At the edge, we jumped off and landed in the warm water.

We swam around and splashed each other, relishing in the feeling of just being together, no conditions, problems, or worries in the way. We finally had what we had always wanted; time alone together. I kissed him, and he kissed me back. We broke apart, and dove under water. I powerfully flicked my tail, and pulled him with me. We explored the bottom of the pond, and it wasn't long before Jacob tapped my shoulder telling me he needed air.

We were several feet underwater, a long ways from the surface, so I panicked. I brought my lips to his and breathed into him. He smiled gratefully at me, and we continued our exploration. Soon, we had to go up to the surface; the light was dwindling. Breaking through the surface, I breathed in deep, hearing Jacob do the same beside me. We swam to the edge of the pond, and while he climbed out, I stayed in.

I laid my arms on the grass out of the pond and gazed up at Jacob. My heart swelled with love and adoration. I loved him so much it hurt.

"God, I love you Jake. More that you will ever know," I said to him. He leaned in, and I met him half way, kissing him sweetly.

"So, was this my present?" I asked when we broke apart. If it was, I definitely loved it. I was surprised though, when he shook his head.

"No, this was just part of it. Wait here," he said, getting up and shaking water off his hair like a dog. He jogged over to a large bush and retrieved something small from it, but I couldn't see what. Hiding it in his hand, Jacob walked back over to me, looking nervous.

I hoisted myself up on one of the boulders, the bottom of my tail still in the water. I swung it back and forth as Jacob came over to me.

"Okay, well, hmm, how do I begin?" he sounded like he was talking to himself. Then, he turned to me. "Serenity Diane White, I love you. I love you more than you could possibly know. In the clearing three months ago, you told me you loved me, too. You told me one day you hoped we'd get married, and live in a big house with a fancy garden, and everything. The whole nine yards. I talked to your dad, and he said that he'd give me his blessing to do this."

My heart kicked into over drive as Jacob knelt down in front of me. "I love you more than anyone in the entire world. I've known you since we were in diapers, and I know that you matter more to me than my own life. Serenity, will you marry me?"

In his hand was a ring box, which he promptly opened and held out to me. The ring inside was beautiful, but I couldn't concentrate. I was ecstatic, so happy and full of joy. There weren't any words to express what I was feeling at that moment.

Happy tears slid down my cheeks. "Yes," I whispered. A grin lit up his face, and I could feel how happy he was to put the ring on my finger. I kissed him, wrapping my arms around his neck. "Yes, yes, yes," I said between kisses, "a million times yes!"

His arms wrapped around me, pulling me out of the water. Heat rushed through me, and I suddenly had legs again. My dress was dry and I had my sandals on. Jacob lifted my by the waist and swung me around in a circle. We laughed and I couldn't stop smiling. The ring on my finger held so much significance to me, to this moment, to my very life.

Jacob took my hand, and we walked back to the car. As we drove, neither one of us could stop smiling. Everyone was waiting for us when we got home. I figured they already knew he was going to propose to me, but my thoughts were confirmed when Austin said, "Well?"

"I said…yes!" everyone was screaming and laughing and congratulating Jacob and me. We were all happy, and I couldn't help but cry a few tears of joy. I looked out the window at the sky and, as if my mother could hear me, thought, _I love you, mom. Thanks for everything._

The party died down after that, and everyone started leaving. I thanked everyone for coming and the gifts as they left. I thanked Emily and Sam for letting us have the party at their house and helped clean up. I couldn't help but smile every time the ring on my finger came into view.

Jacob and I drove in his Rabbit, and dad and Austin drove in Austin's Volvo. On our way to my house, however, I remembered something and made Jacob turn around.

"We forgot to do something," I told him. We parked at the edge of the forest again, but we were much closer to our destination this time. As the tree came into view, I heard Jacob chuckle. There was still some sunlight, but not much. Jacob got out his pocket knife and together, we carved a large heart around our initials. The little sunlight that was left was shining directly on us.

I smiled at Jacob and he returned the smile. We leaned in and closed the distance with a kiss.

Well, I know one thing. I guess maybe I am going to get my happily ever after. Oh, how cheesy.

"I love you Jacob."

"I love you Serenity."

Maybe running away wasn't the worst thing to do after all.

_**The end.**_

**Okay, I think this might've been a sucky ending, but if you ask for a SEQUEL I could fix that! Please review, ANDDON'T FORGET TO ASK FO A SEQUEL IF YOU WANT ONE!**

**Love you all!**

**~Alee B. **

**Ps, this won't be the last thing I'm posting for this story, so don't forget about it! **


	16. Acknowledgements

**Okay, well, like I said, the last chapter wasn't the last thing I'm going to post on here. I'm going to do the Acknowledgements! Which means all of my wonderful reviewers, the people who supported me most, and the things and songs that inspired/I used in the story! I want you all to know that I love you all, thank you so so so much for reviewing this story and giving me the will to write more and not give up on this story, even if I felt like cr*p at times. Love you! **

**Acknowledgements: (Reviewers)**

**Ms Justeenbeebier 123:** for being the very first reviewer of my story, even though I never heard from you again.

**XXXTwiDieFanXXX: **for being the second reviewer, even though I never heard from you again, either.

**Stargazer1364: **for being my third, and one of my most faithful and supportive reviewers. Thanks for everything, girlie! :)

**Neon Knightly: **for being my very first anonymous reviewer; thanks a lot.

**Meggymalna: **For being my fifth reviewer and saying you love Three Days Grace. :)

**Anonymous: **for reviewing and for saying you love Three Days Grace, too. Aren't they awesome? XD

**Love-loves-love: **for reviewing and saying you love the story! Thanks!

**RANDOM COOKIE NINJA: **For reviewing and saying you like Serenity's personality. Of all the things reviewers said they liked and loved, you were the first person to say you liked Serenity. And also for having an awesome penname. XD

**JJ: **for reviewing and asking about Serenity's looks. :) I'm glad you thought chapter 8 was intense!

**MusicIsAlwaysThere: **for having an awesome penname and urging me to carry on with the story. :) thanks!

**Thislittlemockingjay 97: ** for saying how much you loved my story and practically begging for me to update. You reminded me of myself when I review for other stories. XD

**Stormersgirl: **for reviewing and loving this story from the first chapter. :) thanks so much!

**Dreamcatcher 94: **for reviewing and asking questions when I hope someone will. :) And also for asking for a sequel, too!

**Ana: **thanks for reviewing on your brother's laptop even when you weren't allowed to and knew you would get in trouble if you were caught. Just hearing that you did that just to review on my story made my day! :) Thank you!

**HighQueenDofNarnia: **for thinking my story was amazing and reviewing. Thanks!

**Lovesong101: **thanks for reviewing on all of my stories and reading my latest one, _Living a Lie. _ That was really nice of you, I really appreciate it! Thanks! :)

**Kankuroizawesome: **thanks for reviewing and being the first to as for a sequel! I've had the entire plot for a sequel since the beginning of Running Away, so I'm glad you guys are asking for a sequel. :)

**A reader: **thanks for reviewing and also asking for a sequel! :)

**Rivierlina: **thanks for reviewing and also asking for a sequel! Thanks!

**Acknowledgements: (Family and friend wise)**

**Well, first off, I'd like to thank my mom for being okay with me having a FF account.**

**I'd like to thank my dad for being supportive of my passion for writing and teaching me that following my passions and dreams isn't a bad thing.**

**I'd like to thank my siblings, even though my brother's annoying and my sister likes to exercise her lungs near my face a lot.**

**I'd like to thank my cousins, even though D didn't really get my subtle hints of **_**I'm busy, please get out. **_

**A huge and special thanks to my bestest friends ever, Martina, Ashley, and Jenna, for being super supportive and letting me plan to use them in Fan fictions. I love you, sisters!**

**I'd also like to thank Mrs. Edwards, my school librarian, for reading and loving my story. Thanks for also spreading the word about my story writing, Mrs. Edwards! **

**Thanks to my third period English class for liking everything I write, even if it's really trashy and dumb. You guys make me smile! :D**

**And last but not least, Stephenie Meyer, for writing the Twilight books and giving me a reason to write this fan fiction. **

**Okay, now that we are finished with the acknowledgements, I will do the extras. But to tell you the truth, there aren't really that much.**

Inspiration for the tittle: **the song, **_**Running Away**_**, by, of course, Three Days Grace. While it kind of mixes the roles, it's still pretty relative to this story. It was the inspiration, after all. **

Who Naomi really is: **okay, well, I did say that I couldn't help adding her into the story! Sorry to any TDG fans out there, but I couldn't resist! Naomi is Adam Gontier's wife. Adam is the lead singer of the band. I couldn't help it! I knew they were from Canada, so I just wrote it out that way! I just changed her name, that's all. Sorry! XD**

Uhhh, I think that's it, but if you want to know anything else, ask in a review! :)

**Again, I love you guys so much, thanks for reviewing on my story and making it come this far. While I'm sad that it's over, I'm glad that it ended peacefully, you know? That everyone was satisfied with the ending and that nobody hated my story. At least, I think nobody hated it… well until next time!**

**Oh, and guess what? I've decided that…. **

**I'M GOING TO MAKE A SEQUEL! I don't know what I'm going to call it yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I come up with it! I'm going to make it next month, as a Christmas present for you guys, though I certainly won't wait till Christmas to start the story! So keep an eye out both here, and on my profile to hear for any news on the new story.**

**Ciao! I love you guys!**

**~Alee B.**


	17. Just an answer to clear up confusion

Okay, this is just an answer to an anonymous review that came after I completed the story.

I know exactly what you mean, but you'll find out why she has so many powers in the sequel. I explain more about her powers, her ancestors, and a little more about everything, really. Sorry, I just really wanted to save that information for the sequel so I could have more substance for it. Sorry about the problem. I was actually worried that this would happen, but I guess it was bound to happen anyway, right?

Again, I'm really sorry. I'm just relieved it didn't happen when I was still writing the story.

~Alee B.


	18. Sequel Info! XD

**Hey guys! I'm back and telling you to get ready for….**

**The sequel of Running Away! I think I'm going to call it**_**, Hanging in the Balance**_**, because everything—Serenity, Jacob, their families, and some new characters—are hanging in the balance of an evil, powerful man that has more to do with Serenity's past than anybody could have ever guessed. And he does it all to get one thing: Serenity's powers. Will he succeed? Or will he fail and kill several in the process? Learn more about Serenity's past, present, and even her future in this adventurous story. **

**And for those who have told me what I already know and did **_**on purpose, **_**don't worry. She won't be a Mary Sue for long. **

**I love you guys! I'll start as soon as I can on the first chapter, which will be a preface. Sorry to leave you hanging with that, but I do it for a reason. Don't worry though, I'll have another real chapter probably the day after that, that is, if I can. **

**Ciao!**

**~Alee B. Love y'all!**


	19. Sequel is UP! XD

**Hey guys! I'm back. Hanging in the Balance is finally up! Go check it out! And don't forget to review! I know this is a waste of a chapter, but I just wanted you to know. :) **

**~Alee B.**


End file.
